


" LiBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf ___ f _ V— ^-W-V 



1 y^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ^ 

V*y^ 9—167 .:/%'.• 



- 



REPLY 

To 

REV. DR.. POND'S 
"SWEDENBORGIANISM REVIEWED;" 



BY N. P. CABELL, A. M. 



WITH A PRELIMINARY LETTER, 



BY R. K.'CRALLE. 



NEW YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN ALLEN, 139 NASSAU STREET. 

BOSTON : OTIS CLAPP, SCHOOL STREET. 

LONOOX : J. S. HODSON AND W. NEWBEET. 

1343. 



^ v 



^> 




Swowden k Prall. Print. 

60 Vesey-street, N. Y. 



CONTENTS. 



Mr. Cralle's Letter, ------- 5 

Introduction, --------- Z9 

Chapter I. — Swedenborg. — The various classes of his readers. — To which 

of them Dr. Pond belongs. — Character of his attack, - 45 

Chapter II. — Dr. Pond's work still farther characterised. — Perversions of 

the history of Swedenborg's life, - - - 50 

Chapter III. — Dr. Pond's objections to the claims of Swedenborg consid- 
ered. — His argument from miracles weighed, - - 54 

Chapter IV. — Dr. Pond's unfairness in his mode of dealing with the doc- 
trines of Swedenborg. — These doctrines particularly considered 
in contrast with those held by Dr. Pond and his school, 64 

Chapter V. — Dr. Pond's charge of Swedenborg's misrepresentations of 
doctrines and characters, contradiction of historical and scienti- 
fic facts, and inconsistencies with himself; met and refuted, 83 

Chapter VI. — Dr. Pond's objection that Swedenborg lowers the standard of 

Christian piety, considered, - - - - • - 118 

Chapter VII.— Dr. Pond's charge against Swedenborg's principles of inter- 
preting the Scriptures, and his constitution of the canon, re- 
futed, - - - - - - - . 126 

Chapter IX. — Swedenborg's doctrine of the future life vindicated from Dr. 

Pond's cavils, - - 138 

Chapter X. — Swedenborg's doctrine of marriage, polygamy, concubin- 
age, and scortatioru set in its true light, - 154 

Chapter XI. — Dr. Pond's estimate of Swedenborg, .and various minor 

cavils, considered, - ...... 170 

Chapter XII.— Conlcusory.— Appeal to Dr. Pond, <■ * - 179 

Appendix. — A. -......,. 185 

B 186 

C. --„..,,- 189 

D. 189 

E. , 190 

F. 190 

G. . . . • . . . , . m 



«& 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 



Lynchburg, Va., August 6tk, 1S47. 

Dear Sir: 

I have read Dr. Pond's Book, entitled " Svjedenborgianisvi Reviewed" which you 
placed in my hands ; and although the illiberal and contracted spirit in which it is written, 
— combined with its frequently unfair statements and gross misrepresentations, — deprives 
it, in my estimation, of all just claims to notice ; yet, as you requested it of me, and as it 
contained a kind of summary of the vulgar objections urged against the New Church, — 
conceived in the ordinary spirit of sectarian controversy, and addressed, with characteristic 
skill, to the popular prejudices, — I had designed to reply .to it at some length. Indeed, 
during the last spring, I devoted such leisure hours as I could command to the task, and 
had made considerable progress in the work, when my time and attention was suddenly 
called to other matters, by an occurrence with which you are already acquainted. It is 
now impossible for me to complete the work in time to prevent the mischiefs which may, 
to some extent, possibly flow from the labors of Dr. Pond. I must now content myself 
with some general reflections, suggested by the perusal of the book, which, I hope, may 
tend, in some manner, to correct the false impressions on certain points which seem to 
prevail to a considerable extent, and which impressions alone constitute the staple of this, 
and similar works. Its errors of inference, its misstatements of facts, (to all appearance 
deliberate,) its various allegations of inconsistency, and, above all, its gross and unwar- 
rantable imputations, I must leave you to deal with, as you think best. 

We live in an age not more remarkable for its progress in the arts of life, than for its 
active spirit of inquiry in all matters which concern us as men ; — a spirit which takes 
nothing upon trust; and which promises to leave no subject unexamined, whether of Sci- 
ence, Philosophy or Religion. By men of free minds, and who love truth for its own sake, 
this spirit is hailed with gladness; — while, on the other hand, by those who are the mere 
slaves of a system, and who make its dogmas the tests of truth, it is regarded as an abomi- 
nation and a curse. Like the proud Assyrian, they have set up their image, — proclaimed 
its Divinity, — and prepared the furnace for all those who will not fall down and worship. 

The world has but recently become acquainted with the fact that there exists an organ- 
ized Society or body of men, calling themselves members of The New Jerusalem 
Church, — or more commonly The New Church. The peculiar doctrines and opinions 
which they entertain, have led to many extravagant and ridiculous accounts, made up and 
industriously circulated by zealous individuals connected with the various religious sects 
in the country ; and the public, imposed upon by them, have adopted the conclusion that 
they are, at best, but a congregation of crazed enthusiasts. Even this equivocal character 
is by no means universally accorded to them : — for some pious Divines have convinced 
themselves, it would seem, and satisfied their respective people, that their doctrines (if 
not their lives,) sanction some of the worst of vices, — being directly opposed to the Holy 
Scriptures, and designed to subvert the Christian Religion ! 

These accounts, creditable as they are to the ingenuity of the propagators, have not, 



6 MR. CRALL&S LETTER. 

however, prevented the slow but gradual increase and influence of the Church, both in 
this country and in Europe. Its philosophical and religious views have so successfully 
vindicated themselves against the assaults of their opponents — and the progress of the 
Church has been so rapid, especially during the last few years, that grave theologians have 
deemed it necessary of late no longer to rely on the purilerhodomontade heretofore offered 
to the public, but to approach the subject somewhat more soberly and seriously. Amongst 
these, I suppose I must rank Dr. Pond — of whom I had never heard until you placed his 
book in my hands. He seems to have made himself acquainted, at least, with the titles oi' 
the volumes he reviews, — a fact which I do not remember to have observed in the contri- 
butions of any of his predecessors ; — and I readily admit that, if he had made himself 
acquainted with their contents, I would not have reasonably objected to his qualifications 
as a Reviewer — at least so far as knowledge is concerned. But this he obviously has not 
done : and even as regards titles, his catalogue of works " attentively perused," as he says, 
contains in number, one more volume than was ever written. But of this unfortunate slip 
I will say no more. 

Most of the vulgar errors which prevail in regard to the New Church, arise not only 
from ignorance of its religious and psychological system, but from an entire misconception 
of the character and pretensions of the Church itself. Many believe that it is the name 
of a new sect, asking to be admitted into the congregation of the other sects of the Old 
Church. And as its doctrines of Faith and Life do not fully accord with any of these, the 
whole company rises up as one man, and each judging- by his own particular test of ortho- 
doxy, the whole unite in reading it out with bell, book and candle. 

Now, this is a gross misconception. The New Church does not pretend to be a sect of 
the Old. It does not ask to be admitted into its pale, and refuses to be tried by its rules 
of reason and tests of orthodoxy. It claims to be a Church by itself, founded on that final 
and full revelation of truth promised to man in the volume of the Divine Word. The Pro- 
phet Daniel declares — " I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man 
came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him 
near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all 
people and nations and languages should serve him : — his dominion is an everlasting do- 
minion, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." And John in the Apocalypse 
says — " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth 
were passed away ; and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the Holy City, New 
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
husband." 

In these and many other passages of like import, both in the Old and New Testament, it 
is believed that a New Church, founded on a clearer and fuller revelation of Divine truth, 
is prefigured and promised to the world ; and that the Lord is now, in fulfilment of the 
prophecies and promises contained in his Word, establishing on the earth a New Church 
— described by Daniel as " a kingdom that shall not be destroyed ;" — and by John " as the 
Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven." 

It would require much more time than I have at command, to explain fully the reasons 
on which this opinion is founded. This has been done by others ; and he who desires in- 
formation may obtain it by consulting the works of the Church. I must content myself by 
merely saying, First, that such an interpretation as we here give to the words of prophecy, 
is not new ; but that it has had able and pious advocates for ages past — and, Second, that 
the evidences oi its truth and the proof of the fact, are based on the internal or spiritual 
sense of the Holy Scriptures, as revealed to and explained by E. Swedenborg: — For it is a 
marked distinction of the New Church, which obtains in all its views and doctrines— that 
the Divine Word, or Holy Scriptures, contain throughout an internal or spiritual sense, 
as well as a literal or external sense ; and there is an exact correspondence between 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 7 

them in every, the most minute particular ; the latter being as the natural body of a man — 
while the former answers to the soul or spirit which gives it life and power. Or, to take 
a higher and truer illustration,— the external or literal sense is as the material humanity 
assumed by our Lord, while the internal or spiritual sense, is as the Divinity itself: and 
as the Divine purified, glorified and united itself to the Human, so the internal or spirit- 
ual sense, illustrates, vivifies and conjoins itself with the external or literal sense. And, 
further, as all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily ; so all the fulness of the 
internal sense,— or the divine truth itself, dwells, as it were bodily, in the external or 
literal sense. To separate them would be, as it were, to separate the soul from the body ; 
and in view of this great and fundamental truth, the Lord himself taught his disciples, in 
reference to the Holy Scriptures, that the letter alone killeth — the spirit it is that giveth 
life. 

The literal sense of the Divine Word, being thus the continent, basis, or body, as it 
were, of the spiritual sense, the New Church believes that it is written from the beginning 
to the end, — in every word, jot, and tittle, according to the exact, unchangable, and ever- 
lasting relation or correspondence which subsists between spiritual and natural things ; 
between the causes which exist in the spiritual world, and the effects which subsist in the 
natural world, in all their wonderful varieties ; and that, in this respect, it is eminently 
distinguished from every merely human production, — requiring no less than Infinite Wisdom 
to have dictated it. 

Now the whole system of the New Church is derived from, and based on the literal 
sense of the Scriptures, — not separated from, but conjoined with, and illustrated by, the 
spiritual sense : and it thus differs wholly and in all its parfs from the system of the Old 
Church: — the one deriving its doctrines of Faith and Life from the internal sense of the 
Divine Word, as contained in, conjoined with, and manifested by, the literal sense ; — and 
therefore an Internal Church ; — the other deriving its doctrines and discipline from the 
literal sense separated from the spiritual, — and, therefore, an External Church.. 

This theory (if I must so express it,) of the New Church, in regard to the Holy Scrip- 
tures, has subjected it to very many and severe animadversions on the part of the theolo- 
gians of the old church denominations. They cannot consent that the Divine Word shall 
be interpreted in any other way than that which they have adopted, — viz: according (to use 
their own language,) " to its plain literal import ;" — although this rule be so indetermi- 
nate that, as all men know, it has engendered more than a hundred different sects with 
almost as many different interpretations. It wouldbe a task equally unpleasant and unpro- 
fitable to pry into these common places of our assailants, and I pass them by without spe- 
cial comment. 

It is most obvious that, unless there be in the Divine Word an interior and spiritual 
sense, it is not a Divine but a human composition. It is not the Word of the Divine Be- 
ing, but the word of Moses, and others who were but imperfect men. It is not the truth 
of the natural facts recorded in the literal sense, that makes the Word Divine and Holy. It 
is something embodied in these truths, something essentially divine which constitutes its 
incomparable pre-eminence as the Word of the Lord. If the mere truth of facts record- 
ed in an historical series, entitle a work to the appellation of Holy or Divine, we mi^ht 
perhaps, admit to some partial participation in this distinction the works of Herodotus, 
Thucidides, Livy, Tacitus, Josephus, and even Hume, Gibbon and Voltaire. It must be 
most manifest to every enlightened understanding — to every mind capable of thinking out 
of the harness of sectarian discipline, that there is, in the Divine Word, a deep, mysteri- 
ous and spiritual meaning altogether distinct from the mere outward words of historical 
facts. Strange that professing Christians should require to be told that the Books of the 
Holy Scriptures are not the Words of Moses, Joshua, David, Isaiah, Matthew, and others, 
but the Word of the Lord ! And yet such is the fact, for we read of Lectures delivered 



8 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

by learned Divines of the Old Church, on what they are pleased to call " Hcbrciv Poetry" 
— that is the Psalms, the Prophets and other portions of the Divine Word ! — in which we 
are told of the "flowing sweetness" of the one, the " bold conceptions" of the other, the 
"awful sublimity* of a third, the " affecting plaintiveness" of a fourth, and the peculiar 
temper of mind and feeling, and even the provincialisms and idiomatic 2^hrases of each and 
of all ! !* 

That the Divine "Word contains a deep, mysterious, internal sense which constitutes its 
essential sanctity and holiness, is no new opinion. It has obtained in every age of the 
world and of the Church. It may be found, before the Christian era, in the Misnah and 
Gemara, the Talmud and the Targums of the Jews. Its vestiges may be traced even 
amongst heathen nations, in the theosophy of the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Hindoos, 
the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans; for it is no novel or visionary hypothesis that 
all these drew their respective systems of theology, however disfigured and distorted, 
from the same common original. The evidences of this are many and conclusive; and I 
trust the time is near at hand when some one, having the necessary leisure and learning, 
may collect and lay them before the world. 

The same opinion prevailed in the earlier ages of the Christian Church, before the tra- 
ditions of the elders and the decrees of Councils had riveted their shackles on the human 
mind. I might fill pages from the works of the ancient Fathers in support of this asser- 
tion. Even in these latter days, in the consummation of the Old Church, the impression 
is not entirely eradicated. Some of the most eminent of the Protestant Church have ven- 
tured to assert the opinions of the Primitive Fathers even at the risk cf forfeiting an ortho- 
dox reputation. One of these,! and perhaps the most learned of his age, if not of any age 
since the revival of letters, in his Sermon before the British House of Commons, uses the 
following emphatic language: 

" There is a caro and a spiritus, a flesh and a spirit, a body and a soul in all the writings 
of the Scriptures. It is but the flesh and body of Divine truth, that is printed upon paper; 
which many moths of books and libraries do only feed upon ; many walking skeletons of 
knowledge, that bury and entomb truths in the living sepulchres of their souls, do only 
converse with ; such as never did any thing else, but pick at the bark and rind of truths, 
and crack the shells of them. But there is a soul and S2nrit of Divine truths which could 
never yet be congealed into ink, that could never be blotted upon paper ; which, by a secret 
traduction and conveyance, passeth from one soul into another, being able to dwell and 
lodge no where, but in a spiritual being, in a living thing, because itself is nothing but life 
and spirit.'" 

Another,| scarcely less distinguished for learning, in a discourse delivered before the 
University cf Oxford, July 23, 1730, commenting on the peculiar language in which the 
Books of the Old Testament were written, observes: 

" When the literal is either impossible or absurd, the plainest words are to be understood 
figuratively. In the original language it was hardly possible to avoid figurative expres- 
sions : for witli them the tongue is a language of things rather than words, and its very 
letters are significant. It is not merely an arbitrary sound, but a real cliaracter, and the 
name of every creature discovereth, in some measure, the distinguishing property of its 
nature. All nature is its book, and its words are formed upon the essences of things; and 
they had convened their primeval knowledge to their posterity, had they not rested in the 
. and forgot the things. Their wickedness brought on their ignorance, and their igno- 
rance their errors.'" 

* They who may desire to see in what light the old church regards the Divine Word, 
may consul! Bishop Lowth's " Be Sacra Poo-i Hebrceorum" from which he will learn much 
of the peculiar characteristics of the Hebrew Poets, Job, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
Nahum and others, as well as of their 2>oelry ; much of which was written expressly for 
music .' 

t R. Cudworth, D. D. X H. Telton, D. D. 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 9 

This view of the language of the Divine Word has received the suffrages of the most 
learned oriental scholars ; and some have gone so far as to attempt to trace out the distinctive 
character and internal force and meaning of each particular letter in the alphabet ; whether 
with an approach to correctness or not, I shall not undertake to decide — my object being 
rather to state general impressions, than to pass judgment on particular hypotheses. 

Admitting that such an internal or spiritual sense exists in every part of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and that such may have been the common opinion of learned men in the past ages 
of the Church, it will naturally be inquired, from what source do the members of the New 
Church profess to derive their knowledge of it ? We answer frankly and promptly, from 
the disclosures of Emanuel Swedenborg; the medium, or instrument, as we believe, through 
whom the Lord has been pleased to open to his creatures these treasures of his Word, 
heretofore scaled up, in order to the establishment on the earth of that " Holy City" seen 
by John, that " Kingdom" spoken of by Daniel, " which shall not be destroyed" This belief 
is not founded merely on the assurances of Swedenborg himself — however highly he may 
be regarded as a man of piety, probity and truth — but on the internal testimonies furnished 
by the revelations themselves — revelations that ask net the enforced assent exacted by 
personal respect, need not the doubtful guaranties of personal veracity, but boldly demand 
a trial on their own merits, requiring only that the Law and the Prophets should be the 
witnesses, and impartial human Reason the Judge. We believe, on investigation, they 
will be found to contain incontestable evidences of their own truth, — a science, philoso- 
phy and religion which no unaided human intellect could ever have fashioned into order 
out of the chaos of its own thoughts, however great its powers, lofty its conceptions, or 
vast its attainments. 

It is charged against the Church that its rule of interpretation, by which the internal 
sense of the Word may be unveiled, is arbitrary in its nature, and uncertain, if not incon- 
sistent in Its results. This allegation is made by those whose prejudices have not allowed 
them to acquire any other than a very partial knowledge of the rule itself, — much less of 
his nature, and the principles which regulate and determine Its application. So far from 
being arbitrary in its nature, it must be (if taken as a rule at all,) as fixed and unchange- 
able as the forms and qualities of the material world, on which it is founded : nay, as firm 
and unchangeable as the laws of the Deity himself, whose order and attributes are eternally 
stamped upon, and, as it were, stereotyped in the forms of the visible creation, — them- 
selves being (if I might so speak,) the earthly alphabet of a heavenly language ; teaching 
us that every created form and substance, no matter in what order of life or being, — no 
matter in what proportions of multitude or magnitude, — from the blind mole to the heaven- 
gazing man, — from the animalcula to the mammoth, — from the separate sand-grain on the 
sea-shore to the innumerable congregation of atoms that form a world, a system, a universe ; 
each and all are but the sensible manifestations of the infinite attributes of the Most High, 
and speak, in an almost audible voice, that God is all in all. 

Without the aid of this science of correspondence between natural and spiritual things, 
It is believed by the Church impossible to determine, with certainty, whether the writings 
received as the Holy Scriptures, are of Divine or human origin. The want of this aid 
will account for the various conflicting opinions amongst theologians, and contradictory 
decisions of Councils, in settling the Canon of Scripture; — if, indeed, it can be said to be 
settled at ail — to say nothing of the jeers and mockery of the scornful. It could not have 
been otherwise when men looked to tradition and outward testimony for authority — con- 
founding the letter with the spirit — imputing the supposed imperfections of the text to 
unauthorized interpolations, or to the personal imperfections of the respective pensmen ; 
and, in short, making it but little more than a mere account of the Natural Creation, a 
history of the Jews, interspersed, occasionally, with moral instructions, and predictions 
about Kings, and Tyrants, and Civil Governments, and other earthly matters. Regarded 



10 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

merely in this gross and unworthy point of view, it has required immense labor, on the 
part of good and learned men in every age, to reconcile the world to its Divine authority : 
and had not a merciful Providence ordained it otherwise, — had not deep voices been some- 
times heard in the dark sayings of the letter, — such as were once uttered from the cloud 
that vested on Sinai; had it not been permitted to man, occasionally, through openings in 
the garments of the literal sense, to catch a glimpse of the glorious body of Divine Truth, 
it is more than probable that the sacred Oracles would, long since, have been ranked 
amongst the ordinary impositions of tying prophets and designing priests. 

I shall not stop to inquire into the mischiefs which have resulted to the world from the 
want of some fixed and rational rule of interpretation, such as is that for which we con- 
tend. The difficulty, not to say impossibility, of reconciling the apparent contradictions 
which seem to disfigure the mere literal sense ; the seeming inconsistency, in many of its 
statements, with the dictates of reason, the conclusions of philosophy, and the discoveries 
of science, have led to schisms, convulsions and bloodshed : and Christendom, for eighteen 
centuries, has staggered like a drunken man under the constantly accumulating burden of 
creeds without concord, systems without order, and sects without names to designate them. 
In the meantime, the torture, the faggot, and the sword, have been active in this work ; 
and the earth has drunk more blood than would float the navies of the globe. The cause 
and the remedy of the disease are equally obvious; but the time is not yet, though it be 
not distant, when man will discover the one and apply the other. Meantime, the member 
of the New Church has but to perform his duties faithfully and sincerely to God and to 
man. The rest is with Him who sleeps not, neither is weary. 

In connection with this part of the subject a further inquiry may be anticipated, viz : 
Does the New Church regard the revelations of Swedenborg as of the character and au- 
thority of the inspired Books of the Old and New Testament ? I answer, it is so certified 
and circulated by grave and revered persons in the Old Church, but that there is not the 
slightest foundation for the opinion or the charge. The mere idea is so bold as to border 
on blasphemy. The inspired Books of the Old and New Testaments contain, in the view 
of the Church, the Divine Truth itself. They were dictated in every word, from the begin- 
ning to the end, by the Lord himself; and comprehend the treasures of infinite Love. and 
Wisdom. The persons selected to write them may, or may not have understood more than 
their outward import. The probability is, that, to a considerable extent, they were made 
acquainted with their general character, scope and design ; but that they could have com- 
prehended the full measure of the Divine Goodness and Truth contained in them, is utterly 
incredible. Neither they nor any angel in Heaven — no one but the infinite God himself 
can, of this, have any adequate conception. A different theory would involve the worse 
than blasphemous paradox that man is equal to God! In the very chapter of Daniel to 
which I have referred, after recording what he had seen in the '•' night visions" — these cor- 
respondences in the spiritual world, presented to his contemplation in the forms of the 
ral world — the Prophet speaks of being grieved in the spirit and troubled on account 
of l>is visions, he asks for an interpretation (I am speaking according to the literal sense 
of the Word), and an interpretation is given him; but still clothed in the natural images 
of outward tilings — veiled, as it were, in the vesture of earthly forms. And the Prophet, 
as it would appear, still pondering and perplexed, utters the words of one who feels the 
linpotance of his understanding — " Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, 
my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me ; but I kept the 
mutter in my heart." And in a subsequent chapter, when the final consummation of the 
prophecies was presented before his vision, in images that have stamped themselves so 
deeply on the human understanding for so many ages ; when he had seen the man clothed 
in linen lift up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and heard him " Sware by 
Him that liveth for ever" when " all these things shall be finished," he says — "-And I heard, 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 11 

but I understood not ; then said I, my Lord, what' shall be the end of these things ? 
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are dosed up and sealed till the time of the end." 

I might prosecute this inquiry further if it were at all relevant to the subject: but it is 
not, and I wish to avoid all extraneous matter. My object is merely to present the views 
of the Church in respect to the Divine Word; and from these views themselves to show 
that, in its estimation, no record whatever, that ever has been or that ever can be written, 
though arch-angels were the pensmen, and the curtains of heaven the scroll — can be com- 
pared in any manner, or in any degree, with the Word of the Lord. I make no other 
reply to the assaults of reckless men, whose charges reflect far darker shadows on them- 
selves than on the Church against which they are made. 

To the impartial mind it will appear manifest, from what I have said, that the New 
Church cannot rank the disclosures of Swedenborg with the books of the inspired volume. 
What it claims for them and for him, is nothing more than what it accords, in degree, to 
every truthful composition, and to every man who thinks and acts in the world. I say, in 
degree ; for we believe that, in one sense, all men may be regarded as inspired ; that is to 
say, that all men receive their knowledge of truth, their love of goodness, their thoughts 
and affections, their life and being, from the Lord. If they distinguish between the good 
and the evil; between the true and the false ; if they will, and understand, and act, though 
all appears to be from themselves, yet all is from the Lord alone ; for they are merely reci- 
pients of these affections and faculties. In this sense, therefore, and in this degree, all 
men may be considered as inspired. Each feels, thinks and acts as from himself, and diffe- 
rently from another: — for in this consists his substantive individuality of being. One has a 
deeper and a stronger current of feeling; a wider and a clearer range of vision; a higher 
and a larger sphere of action, than another : yet each, and all, are but instruments 
still — mere recipients, whose very existence, and all that it implies, is momentarily received 
from the Lord of Life. 

As to the revelations of Swedenborg, they maybe regarded, in respect to the Divine 
Word, as the discovery of a mine of gold to the gold itself; or as the opening of a casket 
of precious stones to the jewels contained within it. He professes to have been enlight- 
ened by the Lord, — not to publish any divine truth, heretofore unwritten — but to explain 
that already written, but not understood. His revelations, therefore, are not a "New 
Gospel," as some weak and wrathful sectaries would have the world to believe, but a dis- 
covery or disclosure of the internal truths contained in the Word of the Lord as it is 
written. His illumination was designed for this especial purpose. Not to alter, amend, 
add to, take from, or substitute aught in the place of what is written ; but simply, to ex- 
plain, fully, clearly, and to the comprehension of human reason, that which is written ; so 
far, at least, as the object of his asserted mission required, or the capacity of the human 
mind may be qualified, at present, to receive. This is the light in which his revelations 
are regarded. No one presumes to place them on an equality with the Divine Word. 
Bezaleel may build the tabernacle, Aaron may minister at its altars, but the Lord alone 
is God, in the pillar of cloud and in the pillar of fire, in the ark and from between the 
cherubim. 

It is not denied that the members of the New Church believe the disclosures of Sweden- 
borg to be true ; but vast is the difference between such a belief, and the conclusion that 
they are as the Word of the Lord. Newton elucidated and established, if he did not dis- 
cover, the theory of gravitation ; yet his demonstrations, though they carry the authority 
of visions, cannot be confounded with the truths themselves which they unfolded, explain- 
ed, and confirmed. The like may be said of all the systems of mental and mathematical 
science : and in spiritual matters it is the every-day's practice of ministers and teachers 
to declare and elucidate the truths of the Divine Word ; this is the very design and end 
of their office ; yet their sermons, homilies, commentaries, and conclusions, though 



12 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

admitted to be true by their respective sects, are not, on that .account, or, at least, should 
not be, ranked in authority with the Word itself. And why should the New Church be 
taxed with an offence darker than that of mere impiety, simply because it believes the 
revelations of Swedenborg to be true ? 

It may be said, in reply, that Swedenborg presumes to declare that he was actually 
enlightened by the Lord himself, and instructed to make those disclosures, — a presumption, 
of which other theologians of this age are not guilty. But, this] does not change the 
state of the question. His revelations are neither false nor true, merely because he says 
that he was enlightened and directed to make them. Their truth or falsehood must rest 
on other and far different grounds, as every man of common sense must perceive. The 
doctrines of Luther and Calvin are believed by their respective disciples to be true; 
and that they, by the providence of the Lord, were the selected instruments to shake the 
Papal hierarchy, and set in motion the ball of the Reformation. Should it now be dis- 
covered, from some old illuminated manuscript (and the fact is actually asserted in regard 
to one), that they had visions of heavenly things, and that the Lord himself did call them 
to this high office — admitting this face to be asserted on their own authority (as it is said 
to be in the case of Luther), would the doctrines they taught become, as instanter, false 
and impious ; or would their followers believe them to be so ? And yet this is the very 
test they would apply to the disclosures of Swedenborg ! 

But it is argued that, as Swedenborg professes to have had his spiritual vision opened — 
to have been prepared and permitted to see and converse with angels and spirits, in order 
that the world might be made acquainted with the realities of a future life, — he must have 
been mad ; for, as it is contended, although the merciful God has, in past ages, vouchsafed, 
through his infinite love, to fallen man, to reveal himself to the patriarchs, prophets, 
and apostles, yet, in this present age, whatever may be the dead and dying condition of his 
creatures, either from some change in his love towards them, he will not, or from some 
defect of power in himself, he cannot, make any such revelations of himself. Therefore, 
he who asserts the contrary, is mad, and his doctrines inevitably false. 

This, I confess, is a very summary, if not a very satisfactory, mode of settling the ques- 
tion. It is not, however, a new one ; nor is Swedenborg the first or the highest subject 
of its application, as I might very readily show ; but other points of more importance pre- 
sent themselves for examination ; and as this fond theory of our adversaries seems to have 
been a six-days' labor, I willingly leave them and those who are satisfied with its argu- 
ments, to enjoy, in quiet, the sabbath of its conclusion. 

Having thus stated what is meant by the New Church, and given a general view of the 
grounds on which it is established, I will now proceed to state some of the leading articles 
of its Faith. This may be done in a very few words ; for I propose only to mention what 
are commonly called the univcrsals of its faith ; that is to say, the general, more prominent , 
and distinctive doctrines of the Church. 

First. We believe that there is but one only God ; one in essence, one in person, and 
one in operation. 

Second. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is that one only God; the Creator, 
the Redeemer, and the Regenerator of all men. 

Third. We believe that, in the Lord Jesus Christ (as the very terms import,) there is 
a Trinity, called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; and that, as He was the only 
Lord before the incarnation, so He is now, and ever shall be ; as, in his person — his glorified 
humanity — "dwelleth," as the apostle declares, " all the fulness or the Godhead 
bodily." 

Fourth. We believe that all men, since the fall, are born into an hereditary principle 
of evil ; and that they must be regenerated, or perish : that this is effected by shunning 
all evils, as sins against God, and by living a new life according to the precepts of the 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 13 

Decalogue: man acknowledging that, while he does this as of himself, the power is 
received from the Lord alone. 

These may be called the general and distinctive doctrines of the New Church ; and 
every sensible man will at once perceive that they are not calculated to win the favor of 
the various conflicting yet orthodox denominations of the Old Church — a Church which, 
in our view of the Scriptures, is consummated and come to its end, like the Jewish Church 
that preceded it ; and for reasons which, if not precisely, are yet substantially the same. 
They repudiate, in the first place, that sub-division of the Deity — that Tritheism, in fact, 
which has been, and is now, the fatal source of all its errors of doctrine, both as to Faith 
and Life ; and which, confessedly, never had, and has not now, any stronger support than 
that of Mystery. In the second place, they repudiate the idea of a vicarious atonement 
as a contradictious conception, inconsistent with itself, with reason, and revelation. And, 
in the third place, they repudiate altogether that numerous family of heady and mischie- 
vous errors propagated from this parent stock, and fostered with so much care and con- 
cern by the various denominations of the Old Church — such as justification by faith alone — 
salvation by imputed righteousness — unconditional predestination and election — and many 
others of the same complexion, in degrees of descent more or less remote. It is, there- 
fore, not surprising that the New Church should be the subject of so many acrimonious 
comments and libellous misrepresentations. 

I have alluded to the Tritheism of the Old Church as the origin of its errors. I say this 
in no spirit of recrimination, but from a deep conviction of its truth. T know that, in 
icords, three Gods are not allowed to be written down in the creeds ; but I deal with ideas, 
not with words ; with the substance, not with the shadow. They teach, that in the God- 
head there are three separate, distinct persons — each, by himself, being Lord and God ; 
each having a separate and distinct office or function ; each, in himself, infinite and eternal ; 
and only not three Gods, because each is of the same substance of the other. The identity 
of the substance alone, prevents them from being, in all respects, three Gods ! And yet 
this same substance, which alone preserves the unity of the Godhead, and which is, in 
itself, eternal, infinite, and indivisible, did not prevent but that one of the three Persons 
should assume the human nature — the other two Persons, in the mean time, being not, and 
never having been, incarnate ! Incredible labor and a vast amount of learning have been 
exhausted in the effort to prove the truth and reasonableness of this cardinal tenet of ortho- 
doxy ; and the result has been, so far as my reading extends, that it is a great Mystery ; 
a conclusion which, I humbly conceive, requires no more than the mere statement of the 
proposition, to establish — if, indeed, the term mystery be the one most proper to be used : 
and as a matter of Faith, I can conceive of no better grounds of assent than that offered 
by Tertullian — Credo quia impossibile est. 

As regards the distinct offices or functions of the several persons of the Godhead, accord- 
ing to the tri-personal theory, the creeds, the liturgies, and the daily prayers of the Church, 
will show that I have not stated the case too strongly. The Father, being the Creator, 
pardons and condemns ; the Son, being the Redeemer, mediates and intercedes ; and the 
Holy Spirit, being the Regenerator, enlightens and sanctifies. Men are, therefore, moved 
to repentance and to prayer by the third Person - . These prayers are presented and 
enforced by the second Person, who intercedes, and, in some cases, prevails with the 
first Person, to grant a remission of sins to the penitent — not, indeed, on account of 
the repentance, or the prayers, or any other act of the Penitent, but solely on account 
of the merits of the Intercessor, whose infinite righteousness, or so much thereof as may 
be needful, is, in such cases, imputed to the penitent. 

Such, in general terms, is the doctrine of the Trinity — or, as it. should rather and more 
properly be called, tlie Tri-personality ; such the scheme of redemption and salvation, 
as it is understood and taught by the Old Church. 



14 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

On the other hand, the doctrine of the Trinity as understood and taught by the New 
Church, discards the idea of three distinct Persons with three distinct Offices, as necessarily 
implying three distinct Gods, however the proposition may be worded ; and on this account, 
we are charged with the errors of Unitarianism— a name which designates one of the most 
respectable of the many sects of the Old Church, but whose fundamental doctrine is, in 
an eminent degree, opposed to that of the New. The error arises from disregarding the 
force, and confounding the meaning, of words ; and proceeds upon the postulate that a 
Trinity can only exist in three distinct persons ; a delusion, than which nothing can be 
more gross and palpable, as I shall presently show ; for I would dwell a moment longer 
on this charge : not that I regard it as of sufficient importance to require refutation, but 
for another reason. The very allegation itself, if I mistake not, is pregnant with an argu- 
ment and a conclusion which it was not designed to suggest, urge, or establish ; and I 
respectfully solicit the attention of Dr. Pond and his coadjutors. 

The Unitarian Faith I believe admits the existence of one only God. This, if we are to 
trust to the words, and not to the ideas, of the orthodox systems, constitutes, of itself, no 
valid objection, since in words they also declare the same. But, the Unitarian Faith goes 
further, and expressly rejects and denies the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this 
justly excludes the system and its disciples from the number of what are called Christian 
Churches. It is not the assertion of one only God, but the denial of the Divinity of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, that subjects them to the ostracism of the orthodox denominations. 

How then stands the question as between them 1 The Unitarian acknowledges one 
only God; which, according to the faith of the orthodox, (in words) is very well: but, 
he denies the Divinity of the Lord, the Saviour; and, therefore, stands excommunicate. 
Hence, it would seem, that the acknowledgement of the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
according to the orthodox faith, must be made, together with the acknowledgement of one 
only God : and, therefore, He must be that one only God, or there is some other ; or 
the Unitarian must be an Atheist — which cannot be, if he really believes in one God. 

But, the argument contained in the objection will appear more manifest when viewed 
in another light. 

The Unitarian is placed without the pale of " covenanted mercy" (for such are the terms 
of modified condemnation, mercifully allowed by the orthodox "Evangelical Churches"), 
because, though he admits there is one onlv God, the Father, and Creator of all things, 
he denies the Divinity of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The New Churchman, on 
the other hand, not only acknowledges that there is but one only true God (and in 
this both are correct, according to the tvords of the orthodox creeds), but goes further, 
and asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ was a Divine Person ; and more — that he was, and 
is, that one only true God — all the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily. 
And yet, strange to tell, the faith of the two is said to be identical, by, what are called, 
learned Professors; and both are excluded, unceremoniously, from the catalogue of Chris- 
tian Churches. One would suppose, that the New Church, which regards the Lord Jesus 
Christ as the impersonation of the Holy Trinity — the " Three that bare record in heaven :" 
and in whom, therefore, "dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily," is eminently 
entitled to be called a Christian Church ; but it has been decided otherwise by those 
who, if they have not introduced three distinct Gods into the Christian system, have 
employed words which either mean nothing, or contradict themselves. At all events, 
according to their system, it is far more important to believe in the Tri^ersonality of the 
Godhead, than in the Trinity ; as it is far more rational and scriptural to believe that 
one God should dwell in three substantive and distinct Persons, than in one Person : and 
when the Lord " breathed on his disciples, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost" it is far 
more consonant to the dictates of human reason, and the ordinary import of language, to 
suppose he breathed a person upon them, than that he communicated his Divine Spirit 
and operation. 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 15 

I have said that, to suppose it impossible a Trinity could exist except in the three dis- 
tinct persons, is a gross and palpable error. The delusion arises from confounding the 
words themselves. The terms are not the same, nor are the ideas the same. On the con- 
trary, they may be regarded, philologically and philosophically, as not only distinct, but 
actually opposite. A trinity is an essential constituent of, and necessarily present in, 
every unity. An effect might as soon exist without a moving and an instrumental cause, 
as unity without a trinity. On the other hand, the term ir^crsonality implies something 
separate, distinct, disjunctive. Each individual man has a soul, a body, and a life, power 
or operation, proceeding from the soul and the body, which constitutes him a substantive, 
distinct, individual person, man, or being. His soul is not his body ; nor his body, his 
soul; nor his life, action, power, or operation, either the one or the other. The three 
are distinct in perception and in fact ; yet they are absolutely essential to make up that 
one individual unit called man. They are not three distinct persons, but they constitute 
oxs distinct person - . And if there be three persons in the Godhead, each person 
must have a trinity in Himself. End, cause, and effect (to use the language of the School- 
men,) are, in idea and in fact, three distinct things ; for the end is not the cause, nor is 
the cause the effect; yet they necessarily exist and subsist as a unit in every substance, 
animate or inanimate. The universe itself, in the whole and in all its parts, thus reflects, 
as a mirror, the Great Being who created, formed, and established it. The Divine Word 
teaches us that " God is Love ;" and we speak of His infinite Wisdom and almighty 
Power ; though few of us, it is to be feared, take any pains to inquire what is meant by 
Love, Wisdom, and Power, when applied to the Deity. They are words of common use, 
and for the most part, convey but common conceptions ; yet Divine Love, Divine Wisdom 
and Divine Power, are in themselves essentially Gcd, and constitute that ineffable and 
incomprehensible substance, form, and influence, which we call GOD; from whom proceeds 
all life, light, and being. St. John says, " In the beginning was the Word (the Divine 
Truth or Wisdom), and the Word was with God (the Divine Love — for "God is Love"), 
and God was the Word;'' for the Divine Love exists in the Divine Wisdom; and the 
Divine Wisdom exists from the Divine Love ; and the Divine Power proceeds from the 
Divine Love, through the Divine Wisdom : as He who was the Logos, the Word, himself 
taught his disciples after he was " made flesh ,-" declaring, " I am in the Father, and the 
Father in me — I and my Father are one — He who hath seen me, hath seen the Father — 
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Love, Wisdom, and Power, or ope- 
ration proceeding, may, in idea, be distinct; but they are essentially a unit, and make one 
Person ; as soul, body, and operation, make one man. In this respect man is eminently 
an image and likeness of his Creator. 

We believe, therefore, that the Word, the Wisdom, the Divine Logos, spoken of 
in John, as being from the beginning with God, and being God, and in whom was the 
Divine Love, or the Father, assumed the nature of man, or became incarnate; and that, 
therefore, according to the annunciation of the angel to Mary, " that Holy Thing which 
should be born of her, should be called The Son of God." Now, what was that "Holy 
Thing" which was born of Mary ? Surely not the Divine, but the Human ; for besides 
the gross absurdity apparent on the face of the proposition, that an Infinite could have 
been born of a finite ; or that a creature could bring into form and being, its own 
Creator ; it is now generally admitted, that that which was born of Mary, was, in itself, 
imperfect, capable of temptation, of suffering, and of death. This, then, in itself, could 
not have been the "Word, the Lo^os, which was, in the beginning, with God, and was 
God ; but it was that which " should be called^ and was called, " the Son of God j" 
because it was the mysterious, ineffable, and "holy Tiling," produced in the womb of the 
Virgin, by the incomprehensible power of the Holy Spirit, or creative energy of the 
Lord, which is said to have "overshadowed her" The orthodox disciples of the " Tri- 



16 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

personal theory, disregarding the express declaration of Scripture, that this " holy Thing 
which should be born," and which was, undoubtedly, created in time, and, before its final 
glorification and union with the Divinity, undoubtedly subject to trial, pain, and death 
itself — I say, disregarding the declaration, that this "holy Thing" should be called "the 
Son of God/' most strangely maintain, that " the Son of God " was, from the beginning, 
a distinct person in Himself — " the Word of the Father, begotten, from everlasting, of the 
Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father :" thus, in my humble 
opinion, departing, at one and the same time, from the plain instructions of the Divine 
Word — discarding all the precepts of enlightened reason — confounding the very nature of 
things — and introducing into the bosom of the Church a plurality of gods, not less per- 
nicious than paradoxical. 

The theology of the New Church as to the Holy Trinity, in discarding entirely the 
plural or tri-thcistical system, strikes a front if not a fatal blow at the principal and most 
cherished inventions of the Old Church generally, and of its more orthodox denominations 
in particular. It enters into no truce with a system of arbitrary and absurdLy-constructed 
mysteries, demanding th« absolute submission of reason to its incomprehensible dogmas. 
It denies that there are three or more Persons in one God — that there was a Son of God, 
" begotten from everlasting," or " born from eternity" (words that involve an obvious sole- 
cism, and imply a paradox as gross as could be uttered in human language,) — that this 
Son, being a different person from the Father, assumed the flesh, and suffered on the cross 
in order to appease the wrath of that Father, and to satisfy the demands of infinite justice — 
that, by these sufferings, he atoned for the sins of all mankind, past, present, and to come — 
that he was thus a vicar of the Father, and his atonement a vicarious atonement — and 
that men are justified by faith alone in Him, and thus saved — His righteousness being 
imputed to them for that purpose. 

In opposition to these solemn, and, as we believe, soul-destroying delusions, the New 
Church teaches that the Lord Himself, being one in Essence and one in Person, in whom 
there is a Divine Trinity, assumed the human nature, in order to save those who are hu- 
man; that he was in Christ, "reconciling," as the Apostle saith, " the ivorld to Himself;" 
that, in this nature, He redeemed mankind, that is, delivered them from the powers of hell, 
and taught them that, if they would be saved, they must repent, and forsake all evil, as 
sins against God, by keeping the commandments as the sacred rules of life ; and thus by 
living as those who realize, in the very depths of their souls, the certain and solemn 
truth, that every man shall be judged hereafter, " according to his works, whether they be 
good or whether they be evil" 

1 should have been willing to allow the two systems to stand thus, front to front, with- 
out a solitary word of comment, had the human mind been allowed to retain its native and 
God-given freedom ; but it has been enslaved by education and fixed habitudes of thought ; 
and therefore I feel neither surprise nor anger, when we are bitterly assailed, or recklessly 
misrepresented. This must needs be so, if the doctrines of the Church be true. Never yet 
has Truth, in the beginning, met with any other reception. Even the Almighty God, 
who was the Truth itself manifest in the flesh — though he came to his own, yet his 
own received him not — no, not even in the very Temple which for centuries had stood 
the type of his body, and whose altars had taught the mysteries of his blood — He was 
persecuted, reviled, mocked, scoffed at, rejected, and crucified by the Clergy, — the Priests 
and Rulers of the Church, — who pretended to be the exclusive interpreters of His Word, 
and the sole heirs of its promises. If this were so at His first advent, when He was present 
in the flesh, and they saw His wondrous works, we may well repeat the pregnant question 
of the Lord Himself in reference to His second advent, when he would appear not in the 
flesh, but in the Spirit — not in the literal, but in the internal sense of the Word : " When 
the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth ?" 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 17 

It is clear, from what we daily see, that, unless He should come in the manner and form 
which have been settled and determined by their interpretations of the Prophecies, the Old 
Church Clergy, like that of the Jewish, can never believe in a second advent. This inter- 
pretation is precisely the same with that adopted by the Jewish Doctors at His first advent, 
and the consequences are precisely the same. They are both waiting and expecting, the 
one for the Jirst, the other for the second, advent; and they will wait and expect in vain. 
They cannot give up their cherished interpretations. It requires too great a sacrifice of 
self. Spiritual pride, founded on self-derived intelligence is of all affections, the most 
obstinate and unteachable. All rules of reason, all precept of common sense, must yield 
to it. If force cannot be used, fraud must supply its place. Hence the artful appeals to 
popular prejudices — the mockery, derision, and misrepresentation, which w# daily see 
and hear in regard to the New Church and its doctrines of Faith and Life. 

We have just ground of complaint-— not that the views and doctrines of the Church are 
freely examined and freely condemned, when considered erroneous ; but that men, through 
ignorance or design, should contract a fraudulent system of their own, impute it to the 
Church, then expose and denounce it ; and, in the full flush of triumph, in this contest 
with shadows, exultingly exclaim (as some of the most zealous have done), " We claim the 
victory /" It is very apparent to the members of the Church, that but few of those who 
have written most, have ever read more than one or two detached volumes for the " Mem- 
orable Relations" interpersed, by Swedenborg, in the body of some of his larger works. 

These Memorable Relations contain an account of what Swedenborg professes to have 
seen and heard in the spiritual world : and I readily admit if that world be, in any respect 
as the orthodox systems represent it to be, the account must needs appear equally strange 
and incredible. But this previous question has to be decided, before the conditional ad- 
mission can be fairly used against us. As to the " marvels'"' recorded in them, they con- 
sist principally in descriptions of the life, conduct and conversation of those who inhabit 
it ; and who are represented as men — men with spiritual bodies, and all the affections and 
faculties appertaining to real existence and rational life. This, I confess, must appear 
strange to those who believe that the dead have no organic substance or form, and there- 
fore no will, understanding, appetite, sense or pow T er of motion ; but that they are certain 
volatile idealities or thinking entities ; and that so they have been from the beginning of 
creation, and so they must be until the final destruction of the heavens and the earth, when 
they will again become sensible and perceptible beings, by the reassumption of the very 
bodies they have so long left behind them in the bowels of the earth. It is on account of 
this preconcieved and fixed notion, I presume, that the relations of Swedenborg appear 
so mad and marvellous ; and not so much on account of the details themselves which he 
gives. These have, indeed, subjected him and the Church to indignation, scorn and ridi- 
cule ; inasmuch as he has, unfortunately for his popularity as a Seer, represented some of 
the most orthodox and learned divines, and even the founders of sects and Churches in this 
world, as in no very high or happy pre-eminence in that. 

But I pass by these personal matters, as not worth my special consideration. 

Swedenborg's Memorable Relations, and, indeed, all his theological works, assume that 
his spiritual vision was opened ; and that he did actually see and converse with angels 
and spirits. From his statements we learn that the spiritual world is a world of causes, 
and the natural world a world of effects, universally and singularly. We learn, also, as a 
consequence of this, that appearances in the spiritual world correspond with the things 
of this world, in every, the most minute, particular. This might be spoken of more at 
large, but I wish only to draw attention to the subject generally, in order that the fact of 
such a correspondence actually existing between the two worlds, may not be overlooked. 
In the spiritual world, for example, love, in all its degrees, is felt as heat, and light is 



18 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

perceived as wisdom or truth, and hcncp, in this world, heat corresponds to love and light to 
wisdom. And, in general, all the forms of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms in 
this world have their respective anti-types in the spiritual world, which appear there in 
the same infinite variety, as correspondences of the spiritual affections and thoughts of its 
inhabitants. Many misconceptions and misrepresentations of Swedenborg and of the 
Church might have been avoided, had this leading- truth been comprehended and kept in 
view. He would not in such case have been represented as giving immortality to brutes, 
and peopling the spiritual world with " gorgons, hydras and chimeras, dire." The shafts 
of grave sportsmen might also have been spared for more useful purposes. Will they 
shoot their arrows, or vent their scoff, at similar revelations made by the Prophets and 
Evangelists, who are admitted to have had their spiritual visions opened? St. John de- 
clares he saw, when in the spirit, — that is in the spiritual world, — vast multitudes of 
those who had lived on the earth, besides, serpents, dragons, horses, locusts, frogs, scor- 
pions, mountains, rivers, plains, trees and many other forms of natural objects. Will 
orthodox divines sneer at this ? Daniel says, ch. vii. that " in visions of his head"' he saw 
" four great beasts that came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was 
like a lion, and had eagle's wings ; I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it 
was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon its feet like a man, and a man's heart was 
given to it. And behold another beast like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and 
it had three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it : and they said unto it, Arise, eat 
much flesh. After this, I beheld, and lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon the back 
of it four wings of a fowl ; the beast had also four heads ; and dominion was given to it. 
After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and 
strong exceedingly ; and it had great iron teeth : it devoured and brake in pieces, and 
stamped the residue with the feet of it : and it was diverse from all the beasts that were 
before it*, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among 
them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by 
the roots ; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking 
great things." 

Again, in chapter viii. the same Prophet in a vision by the river of Ulai: " A ram which 
had two horns: and the two horns were high ; but one was higher than the other, and the 
higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward and south ; so that 
no beast might stand before him ; but he did according to his will and became great. And 
as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west on the face of the ivholc earth, 
and touched not the ground : and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he 
came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran 
unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was 
mad with choler against him, and smote the ram and brake his two horns ; and there was 
no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped 
upon him : and there was none that, could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the 
he-goat waxed very great : and when he was strong, the great horn was broken : and for it 
came four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came 
forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great toirards the south, and towards the east, 
and towards the pleasant land. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven ; and it cast 
down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped ujwn them," &c. 

Now these relations in the mere literal sense, separate from the spiritual, obviously contain 
no meaning and convey no instruction worthy of the holiness and dignity of the Divine Word ; 
but they are written according to the science of correspondence, as in every other portion 
of the Holy Scriptures, and the natural objects here described are correspondences of 
spiritual things. They were seen in the spiritual world by the prophet; for he, at the 
same time, speaks of seeing saints, and " the appearance of a man," at whose command 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 19 

Gabriel was sent to him to interpret the vision. But even in this interpretation the angel 
still uses the language of representatives, in which were contained the true internal sense ; and 
which, even after the interpretation, seems not to have been understood by the prophet ; 
or, at least, he was directed " to shut up the vision*' which, therefore, could not have been 
fully explained, as to its true internal or spiritual sense. 

Now, I would inquire of our most prejudiced adversaries whether they can point to 
any relation of Swedenborg, which, judging both by the same rule, appears more extraordi- 
nary (for I will not allow myself to use such terms as are employed in their " Examina- 
tions" and ** Reviews,) than these? Will they charge the prophet with " peopling the 
spiritual world, with rams and he-goats, whose horns have eyes and feet, and whose power 
casts down the stars of Heaven ?" or will they say he is mad, or hath a devil ? No, they 
will not : but it is for other reasons than those which their systems offer, or their judg- 
ments approve. They dare not do it ! And it is well ; for when the rabble of our 
rebellious passions are raisad and civil wars rage within us, Fear is wisely permitted to 
usurp the throne of Reason — though the reins of government be held with trembling 
hands. 

Swedenborg, as I have observed, declares tbat his spiritual vision was opened, and that, 
lor nearly thirty years, the privilege was thus vouchsafed to him, of seeing, and conversing 
with spirits and angels; that, in this manner, he became acquainted with many extraor- 
dinary phenomena which exist in that world, explaining the philosophy, and describing 
the realities of a future life. Amongst other disclosures, he gives us some accounts of 
the character and condition of the inhabitants of the planets and of other earths in the 
starry heavens ; derived from the spirits of those who once dwelt on them, and with whom 
he held converse in the u-orld of spirits, or that intermediate place or state, in which all 
men come immediately after death. These disclosures, which, in the present condition of 
our faith and knowledge, are admitted to be extraordinary, and which must to most minds, 
appear utterly incredible, are usually collected together by our adversaries, and without 
any preliminary exposition of our principles, theological or philosophical, upon which the 
Church rests their reasonableness and credibility, placed in the front of their " State- 
ments," "Examinations^* and "Reviews;" for the apparent purpose of exciting the 
passions and prejudices of the reader — the certain means of disabling his judgment, while, 
at the same time, they profess their motive to be just, their means fair, and their object 
only the discovery of truth ! This is a weakness totally unworthy of a being so endowed 
and distinguished as man. 

I propose to adopt a different course in my effort to ascertain the truth; and for this 
reason desire that passion and prejudice may be driven out of court, and that reason alone — 
calm, unbiased reason, may sit in judgment on the cause. 

It is proper to keep constantly in mind that the new Church is not, and does not profess 
to be, one of the numerous sects or schisms of what is called the old Church, comprehend- 
ing both Catholics and Protestants, with all their multitudinous subdivisions. It professes 
to be a new Church, founded on a new view of the Divine Word, and containing new prin- 
ciples of philosophy, new doctrines of faith, and new doctrines of life. It can no more be 
regarded as a sect or subdivision of the old or first Christian Church, than this can be re- 
garded as a sect or subdivision of the previous Jewish or Israelitish Church. Each was 
founded by the Lord on a distinct dispensation or rather revelation of Divine Truth. This 
asserted fact must be borne in mind. 

The prophecies of the Old and New Testaments, and, indeed, the whole Word of the 
Lo)d, are, as I have before stated, written by one unvarying and invariable rule. The 
natural signs and images in which it is worded and presented to our minds, are, as we be- 
lieve, correspondences and representations, which clothe, as it were, the internal, spiritual 
and Divine truths contained within them. These truths have been more or less partially 
revealed at different periods of human history; just as men became more or less prepared 



20 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

and qualified to receive them. From the Jewish Church, which was eminently external, 
they were almost entirely hidden ; and for this reason their construction or interpretation 
was strictly literal ; and, guided by this rule only, they fell into the most grevious errors of 
doctrine and of life ; denied, rejected and crucified their own Messiah, unknowing what 
they did, because he had not, and did not come, according to the literal sense of the Word, 
throughout the law and the prophets, to rebuild the waste places of Jerusalem, and re-estab- 
lish their civil and ecclesiastical polity. Their Church, in the true and proper significa- 
tion of a Church, though it still outwardly exist, has long since come to its end and passed 
away. 

At the first advent of the Lord a fuller revelation was made of the Divine truths con- 
tained in the Word to the Church which was then established by Him in place of that 
which had stood for so many ages, but which then came to its final consummation ; but 
that the Book of the Law and the Prophets were entirely unsealed to that Church, is not 
only not taught, but expressly denied in almost every chapter of the New Testament — de- 
nied by the words of the Apostles themselves, and denied by the whole history of the 
Church, past and present. The unnumbered controversies were from the very times of 
the Apostles down to our own — controversies as to what even its literal sense taught, we have 
no rational doubt of the fact. To that Church, indeed, it was given to perceive many 
truths that were hidden from the Jewish Church. It saw the error of interpreting the 
words of prophecy, " according to their pi 'ain and literal meaning'' (though such be the 
rule it now recommends) — that the Jerusalem which was to he rebuilt, the Kingdom which 
was to be re-established, was not of this world. These and many other similar truths, suit- 
ed to the then state of mankind, were revealed to it : but its revelations were still clothed 
in parables ; the " visions of the Prophet were still shut up," and its own history and final 
consummation shadowed forth in dark and fearful images, which we solemnly believe have 
now no reference to the future. 

The New Church then must not be confounded with any of the various sects and 
schisms of the old. It claims to be its successor, not its offspring — a tree planted by itself, 
and nourished by the pure river of the water of life — not a sickly scion springing from a 
decayed root, or splinter riven from a blasted trunk, shaken by the storms, and shivered by 
the lightnings of its own heavens. 

It is urged against the Church that its doctrines and views are new, strange, wild, vis- 
ionary, mystical and mad : but he who is seriously inquiring after truth for its own sake 
should not be surprised at, or directed from his pursuit, by such imputations. If the 
Church be that spoken of and promised in the Apocalypse, its doctrines and views must 
needs be new, and, to the members of the old systems, strange, heretical and delirious. 
This must be expected; for the words of Prophecy assures us of it So great, so radical 
was to be the change that, as the old, in the lofty language of correspondence, is repre- 
sented by St. John, as the former heaven and the former earth that passed away, so the New 
Church is described as the new heaven and the new eauih, which succeeded it. And imme- 
diately after the descent of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, and the tabernacle of God is 
proclaimed to be with men, — " He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things 
new." The world must, therefore, expect to hear of new views — new views of the Lord, 
and of his nature and of his providence — new views of the Divine Word, its character, 
power and holiness — new views of Heaven and of Hell, and a life after death — new views of 
man, his nature, mode of existence and future destiny — in short, new views of all things 
appertaining to the creations of God. Without these how could it be the Church spoken 
of when all things were to be made new ? How could it be suited to the great change indi- 
cated by the New Heavens and the New Earth ? How could these promised improvements 
in the natural, moral and spiritual codition of mankind be effected so great, so signal, that 
good men, in the present and the past ages, sincerely believed that they implied the total 



MR. CRALLE-S LETTER. 21 

destruction of the visible Heavens and Earth, a new creation and the actual presence of 
the Lord himself in person to reign amongst us ? 

We must not, therefore, be startled when told that new doctrines are taught ; and strange 
because new. But because they are new and strange, must they, therefore, be false, or fan- 
tastic, or mad ? Does such a conclusion comport with the dignity of human reason or the 
lessons of human experience ? The man who affirms it is himself mad, or has lived to 
very little purpose. 

There are no views contained in the disclosures of Swede nborg more remarkable for 
their novelty (our adversaries use the word "absurdity") than those which relate to 
the spiritual world, and the state, conduct, and conversation of its inhabitants. These 
are, therefore, usually placed in front to prove his madness, an4 thus to avoid the trouble 
of any other or further examination. Let us, therefore, examine his reasons without pre- 
judice, as men who are seeking to discover truth — not to support or overthrow theories. 

The enlightened mind will readily perceive that the subject naturally divides itself into 
two distinct parts : First j Is man, by creation, endowed with the capacity of seeing ob- 
jects in the spiritual world, and of conversing with the spirits of the departed ? Second ; 
Is it consistent with the order of the Divine Providence that this capacity should ever 
be exercised or brought into action during man's natural life in this world ? 

First, then, as to the question of capacity j and this might be decided at once by refer- 
ence to the certain declarations of truth, and the indisputable testimony of facts con- 
tained in the Divine Word. But as a mere outward assent, arising from reluctant reasons 
by appeals to arbitrary authority, can neither make any permanent impression, nor exer- 
cise any permanent influence on the human understanding, I would first present some 
general views of human psychology, as taught in the New Church: for when effects are 
seen and understood from their causes, then Reason may act in freedom ; its assent is no 
longer inferred ; its conclusions are based on its own clear perceptions — faith becomes 
knowledge, and knowledge the rule of life. 

I have already observed that the natural world was made the continent and basis of the 
spiritual world, in the whole and in every part ; that nothing does or can exist in the 
former which has not an essential type or pattern in the latter ; that the one subsists in 
the other as the cause subsists in the effect ; and that each, and all things in each, proceed 
from, and are sustained by, the one only Lord God, the Creator and Preserver of all being. 
These views need only to be stated here, inasmuch as they are not, to my knowledge, con- 
troverted ; and if they were, they have no direct, but only a collateral connection with 
the main question at issue ; which is involved in the next proposition, viz: that man, by 
creation, is an inhabitant of each of these two worlds at one and the same time : that, as 
to his spiritual substance and form, which is the only true, real and immortal man, he is 
constituted of the essential elements of, belongs to, dwells in, and is inseparable from, the 
Spiritual World — even during bis connection with the material organism, which is 
compounded of the elements of the natural world, and called his body. 

The common opinion, as inculcated by the popular, and, therefore, orthodox system of 
philosophy, is, that man has a soul which is connected with his body, and dwells in some 
particular part of it ; — the exact point has not been, as yet, accurately ascertained and de- 
termined; and I do not purpose to take any part in the controversy, as I would rather 
know something of the nature and character of the the inhabitant himself, than of the 
precise location and architectural order of his dwelling. 

This " soul of man," as it is usually called, is admitted generally to be spiritual, and 
thus in its nature, though not exactly in its powers and attributes, independent of the 
material body. It is not supposed to possess, in itself, any substance or form, these being, 
according to the prevalent philosophy, only predicable of material, not of immaterial 
things. The soul, therefore, is without substance, without form, and without any determi- 
3 



22 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

nate power of action, separate and apart from the material body. It is, however, generally 
regarded as being possessed of conscious thought and feeling ; though divested of all the 
substances and forms, in which, as subjects, and through which, as instruments, the phe- 
nomena of thought and feeling are exhibited. It exists ; yet without substance ; — it sub- 
sists ; yet without form; — it sees without eyes, hears without ears, moves without any of 
the organs of motion, and has, of course, no gender, being neither male, female, nor neu- 
ter. In short, it is, a mystery, not to be comprehended ; but still to be believed under 
the heaviest, the most awful penalties. 

Such are the teachings of the orthodox system of Religious Philosophy. On the other 
hand, the philosophy of the New Church teaches that there are spiritual substances, as 
well as material substances j spiritual forms as well as natural forms ; spiritual bodies as 
well as natural bodies ; spiritual affections and thoughts as well as natural affections and 
thoughts — in short, a spiritual world as well as a natwral world. It teaches further, that 
man, as to his real, essential, and immortal nature, is a spiritual substance and form ; by 
creation, essence, and attributes — originally, actually, and eternally — an inhabitant of 
the spiritual world ; and, as such, entirely independent, both in essence and in mode of ex- 
istence, of the material body, which is only a vehicle, a dwelling-place, an instrument of 
obedience and of use, while he is sojourning or performing his pilgrimage in this ulti- 
mate, natural, or material world. As a corollary, it teaches that it is this internal, sub- 
stantive, and only real man, which alone feels, tastes, touches, smells, hears, &c. ; and by 
no means the material organism or body, in which he subsists, feels, and acts; and which, 
in itself, is inert, insensible, and dead. It does, indeed, appear as if the natural eye saw, 
the ear heard, the tongue tasted ; but this is only an appearance ; for it is a known and 
admitted truth, that sight, hearing, &c, are not properties of, or qualities inherent in, 
matter. It, indeed, appears as if the sight went out from the eye, through the intervening 
space, to the object, — far or near — as also the hearing in respect to sound ; but this is ob- 
viously a mere appearance, and cannot be a fact: for neither sight nor hearing, nor any 
other faculty, property or quality, can, by possibility, exist separate, apart from, and out 
of, their respective subjects. The sight, then, is not the eye, nor hearing the ear ; but 
they are properties or qualities inherent in, and inseparable from, their subjects ; which 
must be, in the very nature of things, organized substances and forms ; for otherwise it 
would follow that properties and qualities would exist and subsist positively and of them- 
selves without any basis or continent; in which case it would be absurd to call them pro- 
perties or qualities, the terms themselves being relative. As well could hardness or soft- 
ness be conceived as existing or subsisting out of their respective subjects, as that vision 
or hearing should so exist or subsist. 

Being, then, necessarily inherent as accidents of some substance and form, the next 
question is do they appertain to the material organism called the eje, the ear, &c. ? This 
surely cannot be affirmed with any color of reason. They have nothing in common with 
the properties of matter. To assert that matter sees, feels, hears, tastes, &c, would be to 
run counter to every principle of Reason, Philosophy, and Religion. The common phe- 
nomena of Death would, it should seem, be sufficient, of itself, to convince any thinking 
man, that such a theory is grossly absurd. Death leaves all the material organs unchanged 
as to their elements and forms ; yet there is no life, sense, or motion in them. 

But it is believed by man that, although the material eye cannot see of itself, yet the 
soul, when united to the body, confers that power. I will not dispute about words; for 
whether the soul be, what it is ordinarily conceived to be, or not, it is certain that it can- 
not confer a power which it does not itself possess. The error spring? from the idea that 
the soul is a mere thinking principle, and not the real man, or at least, the life of his 
spiritual substance and form. Could they be brought to acknowledge, in the heart and 
head, that the Apostle uttered a real truth when he said there was a " spiritual body" as 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 23 

well as a " natural body" it would not be so difficult for them to see that this spiritual 
body has, in itself, all the organs and functions which are manifested in the natural body, 
which is its simple covering and instrument : that all the affections and faculties do actu- 
ally appertain to, exist in, and proceed from, the organic substances and forms which make 
up this " spiritual body ,} (or the true man himself), the material organism or " natural 
body" being to him only as it were a feeler, by which he detects the existence of sensible 
objects — their forms and properties — while groping in the darkness of this nether and 
inert world. His affections and thoughts, in all their infinite varieties, are manifested out- 
wardly in this world, by material organs adapted to this use, but they themselves belong 
to the inward man, and are but the manifested changes of state which are then occurring 
in those organic substances and forms, called the will and the understanding, which to- 
gether make up, in the complex, the "spiritual body" or the man. If this be not so, the 
dictates of reason, the precepts of philosophy, and the doctrines of Revelation, are vain 
and idle — the " motliest vanities and merest words that ever fooled the ear from out the 
schoolman's jargon." The death of the body quenches all sensible and rational life, term- 
inates all being, and extinguishes, in eternal darkness, man and all his hopes ! We feel, 
we think, we see, we hear, we act no more : unless, indeed, these mortal and invisible bodies of 
clay (which, by the hypothesis, would really be ourselves) should be raised and re-organized 
again at some future time ! — a conclusion which is more comfortable than that of the an- 
cient Materialists only in this — that, while the one offers no hope whatever after death, 
the other promises faintly, and at some far off and indeterminate period, that our specific 
bodies, though scattered to the four winds of heaven, shall be gathered together, re-created, 
and raised again: for I hold, as an example, if he who was called Abraham, be not now a 
living, that is, feeling, thinking, acting, and intelligent being, he is, to all intents and 
purposes, nothing: and that the promised resurrection of the identical numerical body 
of matter, called Abraham, is, to all intents and purposes, neither more nor less, than a 
re-creation of Abraham. For how can it be said that a man is living, that is, feeling, 
thinking, and acting, when not only all the organs of feeling, thought, and action, but all 
substance whatever, organic or inorganic, is denied to him ? And must we be called mad, 
because we cannot believe in such a theory as this ? In the eye of reason, it would rather 
seem — but I will not reciprocate the saw of puerile imputations. 

The affections and faculties, therefore, in all their varieties as to quality, and in all their 
degrees as to power, are, in their nature and origin, spiritual, necessarily inherent in, and 
inseparable from, that organized spiritual being called man, who is their subject ; and who, 
by creation and the immortal nature of his substance, ever was, is now, and ever must be, 
a fixed inhabitant of the spiritual world. Death, or the separation of the immaterial from 
the material organism, works no change whatever in him. He is, to all intents and pur- 
poses, in substance, form, and quality, the same man, the same being, that he was while 
dwelling in his earthly tabernacle — having the same will, the same understanding, the 
same substantial, spiritual, organic sensories ; in short, all things that appertained to him, 
and constituted him a man, whilst living here — save only that he is no longer clothed or 
encumbered with a material body. And as to location, death sends him on no distant 
journey upwards through the fields of space, or downwards through the dark caverns of the 
earth in search of a world to inhabit — a place to dwell in. He is already, and from the 
moment of his creation, ever has been, in his own world ; and needs not " angel's wings" 
to reach it. Instead of regarding him as going into another world, the idea would be more 
correct if it conceived him as simply indrawing himself from this; the natural body, from 
decay or other causes, being no longer suited to him as an habitation, or the purposes of 
the Creator, in his final destiny, no longer requiring his presence in it. 

It is obvious, therefore, from the ordinary phenomena of human life, — to say nothing of 
Reason and Revelation, — that man is created to be at one and the same time, an inhabitant 



24 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

of the spiritual and the natural world. And if, as I think is clear, his affections and facul- 
ties appertain to his spiritual and not to his natural substance, it follows evidently that he 
is, by creation, endowed as fully and as perfectly with the attributes essential to the con- 
verse and intercourse of spiritual beings, as to the converse and intercourse of natural be- 
ings : for, as to his essential substance, which is himself, he is as closely associated with 
the former in the spiritual, as he is, as to his material body, with the latter in the natural, 
world. Every man may realize this, in some degree, in the contemplation of himself. 
We certainly can look inwardly into our own hearts, as the common phrase is ; or, in other 
words, we can see and examine our affections, intents, purposes, &c, and determine for 
ourselves whether they be good or evil. We can also perceive our thoughts and satisfy 
ourselves whether they be true or false. These are not objects of natural vision, yet we 
can see them with equal clearness by what is called the *' mind's eye.'" These are intangi- 
ble, imponderable, immaterial, yet are they distinctly visible to our inward vision, and 
constitute, indeed, the daily subjects of our own animadversions and of the animadversion 
of others; being as they are the real sources of all our actions and the sum and substance 
of all our words. In this sense, and in this way, it may truly be said that we see and know 
ourselves and each other. 

If, then, man be an inhabitant of the spiritual world ; if his vita] substance and form, 
■his xvill and understanding, his affections and thoughts, do, in their very nature, appertain 
to that world, — and no one can reasonably controvert it, — what is there in the proposition 
that he is capable of seeing and conversing with the spirits of the departed, which so star- 
tles our philosophy and staggers our belief? Is there anything inconsistent in the result 
with the principles laid down ? We say that he is a spiritual and immortal being, and 
that he possesses, as properties or attributes, inseparable from his very substance itself, 
sense, vision, taste, hearing, &c. ; and when we affirm this, we do, by necessary conse- 
quence, affirm that he is an inhabitant of the spiritual world ; for a spiritual substance can 
no more exist out of its own sphere of being, than a material substance could exist out of 
the world of matter. And when we admit that he is an inhabitant of the spiritual world, 
with the affections and faculties inseparable from his nature, we do, at the same time, ad- 
mit that, by creation, he is endowed with the capacity to see and converse with those who 
dwell in that world. 

But, it may be said, admitting this capacity to exist, it does not follow that a man may 
see and converse with departed spirits, inasmuch as the faculty or power is not brought 
into action during his life in this world. This is another and a very important question, 
which I propose to examine presently. I would now, in order to avoid confusion and 
consequent misconception, prefer to keep the attention directed to a single point. 

When I say that man, by creation, and of course, agreeably to the order of the Divine Pro- 
vidence, is endowed with the capacity, as an essential property of his nature, to see and 
converse with spirits and angels, I mean, and desire to be understood as saying, that, while 
he lives in this world, he possesses fully and perfectly the powers essential to this end, 
whether he may exercise them or not; and that, when he dies, and comes consciously into 
the presence of those who have gone before him, he will need, in order to appreciate all 
things by which he may be surrounded, no new will, no new understanding, no new organs 
of taste, touch, sight, or hearing. Whatever he may see, feel, or hear, will be felt, seen 
and heard, by identically the same powers or faculties which he possessed and exercised 
while he lived in the body : though not exercised either on the same objects or by means 
of the same material organs. If this be not so,— if he have another will and another un- 
derstanding, — and, what of course follows, another fountain of affections and of thoughts, 
with all their connections, relations, and consequents, he is obviously not the same being, 
but another man — whether, as the metaphysicians have argued it, personal identity con- 
sists in inward consciousness or outward form. 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 25 

Now, if this be a correct view of the true character and position of man, — and t do not 
perceive how it can be controverted, especially by Christians, — and further, if the capaci- 
ties or powers shown to be inherent in his very nature, be brought into full exercise dur- 
ing his existence in the material world, I would respectfully inquire of the serious and 
thinking, is it a wonderful thing that a man should become acquainted with the persons 
and things, the character, condition, opinions, habits, and modes of life which distinguish 
men in the other world, of which he, by the hypothesis, is an inhabitant, and of the socie- 
ties of which he himself forms an integral part ? I presume that but one answer can be 
given to the question propounded under these circumstances and in this form ; for it is, in 
substance, precisely the same as if I should ask, "Is it wonderful that a citizen of Bangor, 
either in his closet, with books, or associating with intelligent men from England, France, 
or Turkey, should become acquainted with the civil institutions, moral character, per- 
sonal habits, religious opinions, or even the physical peculiarities which distinguish these 
countries and their population ?" Indeed, it might with some reason be said, on the hypo- 
thesis, that the latter taxes our credulity to a greater extent than the former ; for, in the 
one case, it supposes that a man may acquire information in respect to a country and its 
inhabitants without ever having visited the one or associated with the other ; while, in the 
other, the knowledge supposed is of a country in which we have always dwelt, and of be- 
ings with whom we have always associated. 

But not to press this view of the subject further, I will take the occasion only to observe 
how much the human reason has been blinded, and how fatally the judgment has been 
perverted, by that old and absurd philosophy which teaches that the spiritual world lies 
beyond the limits of space (and we talk of infinite space), beyond the distant and blue can- 
opy, which, as a fixed firmanent, encircles all the orbs of the universe. The human un- 
derstanding, in its natural freedom, re-acts, in despite of education, against such a wild the- 
ory as this ; and doubtless the idea has occurred to many minds, after reading the declara- 
tion of our Lord, to the thief on the cross — "This day shaltthou be with me in paradise," 
with what an inconceivable rapidity the soul must travel through the regions of space, in 
order to reach its final abode ! Light with all its thought- like velocity, if the results of 
Astronomical observations are to be relied on, could not reach even to some of the fixed 
stars that the telescope discovers to us, in many thousands of years ; and of course its pro- 
gression would be at a snail's pace in comparison. No wonder that minds enslaved by 
such a gross and miserable delusion as this, should deem it utterly incredible that Sweden- 
borg could ever have been actually present in the spiritual world; or in proud and con- 
temptuous ignorance, should scoff at his declarations as the wild ravings of a maniac. Their 
ignorance deserves pity, their theory contempt. 

I have offered these views in favor of the opinion that man is, by creation, essentially and 
actually an inhabitant of the spiritual world; and that he is, agreeably to the order of the 
Divine Providence, endowed with the capacity of seeing and conversing with its inhabitants 
during his life in the body rather with a hope of exciting inquiry, than of convincing any 
one's judgment. The subject is of no little importance: and as I cannot here enter fully 
into the views of the Church in regard to the creation and preservation of man and other 
creatures, I will merely submit the following brief propositions; 

First. — God, the Creator, alone has life, or rather is life in Himself. 

Second. — All other substances being created by Him, are butreceipients of life from him 
in their various orders and degrees. 

Tnird. — In the creation of man (as of all other beings,) God did not, as to life, wind him 
up as a watch and leave him to run down, but his preservation is, as it were, a perpetual 
creation^ — and being a mere receipient of life, man must, at every instant, in time and eter- 
nity, partake of the influx of the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, which constitute 



26 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

essential life, — or his very substance itself, with all that appertains to him, must utterly 
perish. 

Fourth. — God never did or can act against his own order, — being all perfect in holiness, 
and infinite in wisdom and in power. 

Fifth. — The Divine love and the Divine wisdom which alone constitute essential life, 
proceed from the Lord, through the spiritual world (as the heat and light of the sun 
through the atmosphere) into the natural, and sustain it, in the whole and in every part ; 
and the tvill and understanding (which together, as a real, substantial, organic essence 
and form, constitute, with their attributes in the complex, what is called man), are thus 
sustained, as to the liberty of the one, and the rationality of the other ; — the will being the 
receptacle of the Divine love, and the understanding the receptacle of the Divine wis- 
dom ;— by which, through which, and in which man lives, moves, and has his being. 

Sixth. — Man being thus a spiritual substance and form, belongs, by creation, to the spir- 
itual world, — his appropriate and eternal sphere ; and could not exist or subsist one 
moment out of, or separate from, that world, any more than a material substance and form 
could exist or subsist out of, or .separate from, the natural world — his temporary connec- 
tion with the natural organism of the body by no means presupposing or implying that 
he is out of his own world, — that world of imperishable substances of which be forms an 
integral part. 

Seventh. — The above positions being admitted, (and I have never seen a sound argument 
against them), it follows that man is at all times associated with those who have departed 
out of this world as well as with those who remain in it, however unconscious he may be of 
the fact during his connection with the natural body. It may also be inferred that he is in- 
fluenced by them, both as to his affections and his thoughts, his words, and his actions 
even far more than he appears to be by men with whom he associates in this world. This, 
however, will not be left to inference — I propose to prove it to be the fact by testimony 
which cannot be successfully controverted. I shall not deny that, in outward appearance, 
man has life in himself, — he seems to be a self-acting, independent being; living, moving, 
thinking, by his own inherent power. But this is obviously an appearance only ; for had he 
life in himself, could he live, move, and think of himself, according to the universal suf- 
frage of enlightened reason in all ages, he must needs be God. The truth is he can neither 
live, move, think, nor act of himself. Life, with all its powers, is a continual gift from 
the Great Author of his being; and he, himself, is but a recipient of it. Could he, of 
himself, originate one single affection or thought, could he, of himself, articulate one 
word, or perform one solitary act, he might well claim an entire independence of his Ma- 
ker. A contrary doctrine has obtained in past ages of the world ; and, perhaps, there be 
some who even now tolerate the delusion ; but they who are thought, by Christians, not to 
have kept their fir st estate (and whose history has, probably, been also written in the heathen 

fable of the war of the Titans), may be referred to as monuments of the error, and of 

its consequences. 
I come now, to a question having a more distinct bearing on the disclosures of Sweden - 

borg, viz : 

Supposing man by nature and creation, to be an inhabitant of the spiritual world, and 

to be endowed with the capacity to see and converse with the spirits of the departed, is it 

consistent with the order of the Divine Providence that this power should be called into 

action and exercise during his life in the natural body ? 

To this interrogatory the general response of our opponents is in the negative. It is a 

" miracle," say they, and the age of miracles is past ; and though it may once have been 

in the order of the Divine Providence, it is not so now. This, I say, is the general response. 

There are many others, the shoots and scions of this, such as — How can a man go away into 

the world above the skies and talk with spirits ? How can a spirit, which is a soul {souls 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 27 

in their theology being very equivocal and anomalous entities until the day of the resur- 
rection of their bodies), be seen by mortal eyes ? How can souls see, and talk, and hear, 
and understand, when they have no substance or organs whatever ? 

These are, indeed, puzzling questions, according to their psychological theories — if, in 
fact, they do not puzzle the theories themselves. I shall certainly not admit the force of 
the one, until I am satisfied of the truth of the other. If souls, or departed spirits, be of 
the character represented in their systems, it is very certain that they never have been 
seen, either in this world or the other, for they themselves must be as great a puzzle to 
each other in the other world, as they are to us in this — at least, until they shall have re-as- 
sumed their earthly bodies — which, however, are to be immediately changed into spirit- 
ual bodies — when, according to their views of spiritual things, I do not perceive that they 
would be much better off than before. But I pass by these toys of the imagination. 

In the existing state of our race it is difficult to bring the mind to contemplate what is, 
what was, and what always must be, the order of the Divine Providence in our creation. 
The difference between our present and our primitive state is, in fact, however words may 
cloak it, generally attributed to some arbitrary change in the order of the Divine Provi- 
dence in respect to us, and not to any change in ourselves. The ordinary worship of the 
Old Church, its doctrines, its liturgies, prayers, &c, all show how prevalent and how po- 
tent is this ruling idea. In their view the Lord, since the fall, has been angry with us, 
even to the extent of cursing ; that He has forsaken us, and even repented that He ever 
made us at all. If we exist at all, or at least, if we live with a hope of salvation, it is only 
because the second person in the Trinity had greater compassion for us than the first, and 
atoned for our sins, and reconciled us to the Father. Still, contrasting our present with 
our primitive state, seeing that angels no longer visit us, and that the voice of God is no 
longer heard amongst us, we unwisely (I had almost said impiously) attribute the fact to 
some change in God, and not in ourselves. We believe Him to be a changeable Being. It 
is in vain either to attempt denial or disguise; the truth is stamped on the heart, whatever 
words the tongue may wag. Why the long prayers — the earnest and iterated invocations 
which we daily hear in the houses of worship ? Why the fond and familiar terms oftimes 
so shamefully uttered, when men affect to soothe and, as it were, cajole a reluctant God to 
grant them the blessing they have importunately sought, but in vain, by loud and reiterated 
appeals? Why, when one poor suppliant, at certain meetings, has failed to excite the 
commiseration, or to induce God to "send down his Spirit amongst us," is another * • brother" 
called upon, as probably a greater favorite, to " wrestle with the Lord for the poor dying sin- 
ners ?" Why, amongst certain denominations, is the first half-hour of " religious services" 
employed, in reminding God, with lifted hands and eyes, of many things which, by infer- 
ence, He has forgotten — enumerating His titles, recounting His glorious acts, magnifying His 
great name — with all the other flattering and suasive accompaniments of what are called 
" eloquent prayers?" Why, in short, do we daily see and hear in the ceremonies of public 
worship, everywhere, so many and so gross departures from the simple modes of prayer and 
praise enjoined by the Lord Himself, and illustrated by His example ? Men may deceive 
themselves, but at the bottom of all these sad delusions lies the trampled-on truth to which 
I have adverted — God is regarded, in the heart, as a changeful, reluctant, if not, passionate 
Being, who, to use the common phrase, is to be " wrestled ivith," and whose favors are to 
be wrung from Him by iterated and ardent appeals, which, as tne language is, " storms 
heaven" 

Now, these things — and Heaven is my witness that I mention them with no design to 
excite ridicule — can only proceed from the causes to which I have referred ; and yet, the 
error is not more pernicious than palpable. The Lord cannot change, cannot act arbitra- 
rily. The heathen philosopher* had a far more rational and Christian idea of God than 

* Pythagoras. Vide Hierocles' Com. pp. 190, 191. 



28 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

this. " God never ceases to offer us all good things, but this the greatest part of men do 
not see, because they do not rightly improve those common notions which our Maker has 
imprinted on rational beings, as a mark to lead us to the knowledge of himself. God is 
not the cause that He does not show to all men these things, but they are themselves the 
cause of it, who neither see nor hear that good things are near them. They draw on them- 
selves their own evils of their own accord. The fault is in him that chooses, and God is 
in no wise to blame, seeing that He continually offers the things that are good to all men ; 
but as to the greatest part of them, the eyes of the soul, which are alone capable of seeing 
the good that is thus continually offered, are closed or fixed downward on the earth 
through an habitude which they have contracted of adhering always to what is evil." 

The actual state of our race presents the only example of inverted order in all the crea- 
tions of God. All beings, save man, exist in the order in which they were made. He was 
created to look upwards to heaven, but by the abuse of his faculties he looks downward on 
the earth. He has left the realms of light, and cast himself in a dungeon, and then most 
preposterously concluded that the whole economy of the Universe has been changed, and 
that the sun has withdrawn his beams from him. Wedded to the darkness of his subter- 
ranean cell, he still prays for light, but refuses to come forth ; and if his prayer be not 
granted, he taxes the sun, and not his own folly. This is a frightful, but a faithful picture 
of the actual state of our case ; and while it may furnish us, in its results, with very just 
notions of the disorder that reigns in ourselves, it can in no wise be regarded as determin- 
ing the laws of Divine order in respect to us, unless it be by contrast. For if, in our in- 
verted state, all conscious communication with the spiritual world be cut off, we may, with 
some confidence, infer that in our state of order — in the order of our creation — the result 
would be different. This is not only consistent with reason, but it is sustained by facts, as we 
find them recorded in the Divine Word. Before the fall, our progenitors are represented 
as conversing freely with their Maker. They heard His voice, and He spake to them the 
words of warning and of comfort. The details of their life are, indeed, few ; but, taken in 
connection with what is subsequently taught, there is every reason to believe that the spi- 
ritual world was as fully open to their vision as the natural. Even after his fatal lapse, 
man's intercourse with the world invisible was not suddenly and entirely cut off. God is 
said to have appeared to, and conversed with him, both before and after the fall. This 
must have been through some spiritual and finite intelligence, as God, in His essential Di- 
vinity, must be invisible as well as incomprehensible. He, according to the literal sense 
of the Word, appeared to, and conversed with Noah, informing him of the approaching de- 
luge, and instructing him what to do. When he entered the ark, God is represented as 
" shutting him in." It is even said that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, and 
took them to wife. The Lord also appeared often to Abraham. Both he and Lot enter- 
tained and discoursed with angels ; nor is it anywhere intimated that they or others were 
surprised at this condescension, or regarded it as a miracle, in the popular, modern, theo- 
logical sense of that word. Those entertained by Abraham were also seen and spoken to 
by his wife. The two that appeared to Lot, were seen by the inhabitants of Sodom, who 
attempted to seize them. An angel also appeared to, and conversed with, Hagar in the 
wilderness; and when the Lord " appeared to Abram, and said unto him,l am the Aj> 
mighty God — walk before me and be thou perfect ," and promised him an heir to his house, 
instead of indicating astonishment or terror, "Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, 
and said, in his heart, shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old ?" And 
that it may not be said that these visions and conversations were in this outward natural 
world, I will merely state here, that, in many instances of a similar character, it is expressly 
declared that they were not ; as, when " the angel of God called to Hagar, out of heaven ;" 
and " God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water." And when " the angel of the 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 29 

Lord called to him, out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham ; and he said, Here am I." 
But why multiply examples ? The Divine Word is full of them. All the patriarchs, pro- 
phets, and apostles saw and conversed with angels, through whom, for the most part, the 
Word of the Lord came to them. The whole of the Apocalypse, from the beginning to the 
end, is declared to be a record of things seen and heard in the spiritual world ; for the Evan- 
gelist states in the first part of it that he was " in the spirit,'" when he saw and heard what 
he was commanded to write. 

And what are we to conclude from this mass of undoubted and incontroverted facts ? 
Surely, it should not be denied, at least, by Christians, that they conclusively prove what 
I have asserted, that man, by creation, is endowed with — and, agreeably to the Divine order, 
is capable of exercising — the power of seeing and conversing with beings in the spiritual 
world, during his natural life in the body. They go further, and as conclusively prove, 
that even during his natural life in the body, man, as to his spiritual and immoital part, 
is actually in the world of spirits, and in association with its inhabitants ; for it is nowhere 
intimated that they who thus beheld and conversed with angels and spirits, had been ele- 
vated out of their material bodies. On the contrary, such a conclusion is expressly nega- 
tived in many instances ; as, for example, in the case of Elisha, when Elijah was taken 
from him; and yet more strongly in that of Elisha's servant, of whom it is written : "And 
when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host com- 
passed the city, both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my 
master ! how shall we do ? And he answered, Fear not ; for they that be with us, are more 
than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes 
that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw ; and, behold, 
the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." The same words 
are used by Luke when the Lord appeared to two of his disciples on their way to Emmaus, 
after his resurrection. Though he conversed with them yet they knew him not ; for 
"their eyes were holden, that they should not know him;" and afterwards as he sat at meat, 
" their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight." 

Now, in these cases, it cannot be said that the persons concerned, were actually elevated 
out of their natural bodies. They were conversing with one another as man with man ; 
and the Word itself explains the manner in which they were rendered capable of seeing 
the objects around them in the spiritual world, viz: " their eyes were opened" — obviously 
not their natural eyes, for they were open already — but their spiritual eyes, the eyes of 
their inward and immortal essence, which alone is capable of vision both in this world and 
the world of spirits. 

I am aware that Paul does, indeed, say of himself when he was caught up into the third 
heaven, and received certain revelations from the Lord, that he did not know whether he 
was in the body or out of the body. But this doubt, so far from overthrowing the conclu- 
sion, rather confirms it ; for surely, if he had been actually separated from his body, he 
could have felt no doubt upon the subject. I do not, however, regard the settlement of 
this particular case as carrying with it any especial force ; though I am not ignorant that 
it has been a question of some controversy amongst ancient and modern churchmen — the 
one side maintaining that when Paul speaks of visions seen in Paradise (a place which all 
the ancient Fathers, I believe, Origen excepted, supposed to be distinct from heaven), he 
was, like Ezekiel and the other prophets, not out of the body, but in " extacy," or " seem- 
ing rapture/' as they call it; while in the case before us, when he speaks of being caught 
up to the third heaven, they imagined him to be actually elevated out of the body. The 
latter branch of the proposition was controverted with characteristic zeal and perseverance.* 

* Vide Ireneeus, lib. 2, ch. 54 ; Tertullian De Prescript, ch. 24 ; Ambrosius Annot. 
in locum ; Methodius Ep. ad Joh. ch. 3 ; Epiphanius, Origen, and others. 



30 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

The controversy arose out of the erroneous theory that heaven is in some distinct, and far 
distant portion of space — a theory not only inconsistent with the very nature of things, but 
directly in opposition to the declaration of the Lord, who taught his disciples the great 
truth that the kingdom of heaven is within, and not without us. 

But to return to the subject more immediately under consideration. The facts to which 
I have adverted teach not only that man, by creation, is capable of seeing spiritual beings 
during his natural life, but another and highly important truth, viz: that man, after death, 
retains perfectly the human form, and all the essential attributes of his nature. Men of 
the Old Church can, with the greatest difficulty, be brought to realize this ; having im- 
bibed from their creeds and teachers the opinion that souls are certain thinking principles, 
which can have no forms until they are again united to their resurrection -bodies — forms 
not being predicable of any other substance than matter. And yet it cannot be easily seen 
how the difficulty is obviated upon their own principles ; for, as I have before observed, 
though the identical numerical body is, according to their theory, to rise again at the last 
day, yet their doctrines teach that it is to undergo an instant and entire change, and to be 
made spiritual, in which event, if the theory be consistent, it will lose all formal capaci- 
ties, and, therefore, all qualities. And thus souls will derive no conceivable benefit from 
these disquieted atoms of clay, so unnecessarily disturbed in the silence and darkness of 
the sepulchre. And yet, strange to say, it is in these immaterial and formless bodies, that 
the martyrs (in the opinion of many of those who are called the Fathers of the Old Church, in 
former times, and of some Doctors of Divinity in later periods, both eminent and orthodox), 
are to enjoy a personal reign with Christ on this earth, a thousand years, luxuriating in the 
products of the material world — in rich banquets of flesh and wine, and other delicacies — 
ministered unto by heathen slaves — marrying and giving in marriage — rearing children, 
&c, &c. ! ! It is one thing to speak of the holy mysteries of religion ; but it is another 
and a very different thing to give to the grossest absurdities the passport of their name. 
The common instincts of reason might teach men, one would suppose, that there can be no 
real entity that is not a substance, and that no substance can exist or subsist without form, 
substance and form being in the nature of things one and inseparable. 

I have shown that men do not go out of their natural bodies in order to see and converse 
with beings in the spiritual world ; and the facts are so clear and indisputable, that learned 
and Reverend Divines (I use the language of the times), to whom particular systems are ev- 
er most dear, whether orthodox or otherwise, have been compelled to transfer the argu- 
ment, and to maintain that, though the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles did not actually 
go out of their bodies into the spiritual world to see and converse with angels and spirits, 
yet these latter may have left their abodes and come into the natural world again to see and 
converse with them. And in order to effect this, they assumed for the time, a material body 
or shape that they might make themselves manifest, as in the flesh. So stern is the ty- 
ranny of creeds — so blinding the influence of perverted truths ! The hypothesis, as every 
one will readily perceive, springs out of the same common error, — the well-spring of ma- 
ny delusions, — that man is nothing but a material being enlivened by some vital spark ; 
and as such, incapable of seeing any other than material objects. Vain are all attempts to 
disguise the truth ; and it is the "fiend's arch-mock" to practice deception on ourselves; 
and this we do when we permit our understandings to frame, and our tongues to utter, what 
our heart* repudiate. Why, let me ask, if they assume a shape cognizable by the natural 
eye, why is it said, as in the cases above cited, the Lord "opened their eyes" — "their eyes were 
opened and they saw V'fyc. If the forms appertained to the natural world,— if they partook, 
in any degree, of the matter or substance of this world, there would have been no occasion 
for saying "their eyes were opened'''' — or for "opening their eyes." Their natural organs of sigh t 
were already opened, as I have shown ; and could have detected any natural object in the 
each cf vision. Clearly they were not the natural organs of vision that were opened, 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 31 

but the spiritual : — and, as a necessary consequence, the substances and forms seen by 
them were spiritual also. When David prayed to the Lord to " open his eyes that he might 
behold wondrous things out of the word," can it be reasonably supposed that they were 
natural organs of vision which he desired should be opened ? A theory that demands 
such a tribute from reason, revelation, and common sense, cannot have the truth of God for 
its support. 

If, then, it require only that the vision of our spirits be opened in order that we may 
become really and consciously cognizant of and conversant with spiritual objects — men and 
things ; — and, if it be evident, that the Almighty God has, heretofore, in many instances, 
opened that vision; I see no just grounds, from reason or revelation to stagger and turn 
up our eyes, merely because Emanuel Swedenborg has declared that his spiritual vision 
has been opened by the same Almighty Power, and for great and benevolent purposes — 
neither do I feel my reason constrained to reject his information on this account merely. 
The fact asserted is undoubtedly consistent with the capacities of our nature, and compati- 
ble with the fixed order of the Divine Providence. This we must grant if we believe the 
Holy Scriptures ; and admit that the order of the Lord God has not changed in the last few 
centuries. The only difficulty that presents itself to our minds is to be found in the creeds 
of the orthodox denominations of the old church, which have determined, First, That 
every development of the Divine economy inconsistent with the common phenonema of 
the fallen and inverted state of human life, is a miracle, because it is not understood. Se- 
cond, That the opening of the spiritual vision, in these latter days, is inconsistent with 
these common phenonema; and, therefore, a miracle. Third, The age of miracles being 
past, all accounts of such opening of the spiritual vision, must be, ipso facto, absurd, in- 
credible, and blasphemous. 

I have nothing to offer in reply to propositions so bold in their statements, so abrupt in 
their reasons, and so summary and decisive in their conclusions. I shall only avail myself 
of the occasion to say that a miracle, in the sense annexed to the word by the consum- 
mated church, never did and never can occur. According to their views, ^miracle necessa- 
rily implies some departure on the part of the Deity from the laws of his ovm order, as ex- 
hibited in the government of the world. This is a gross and glaring error ; for it is most 
clear that God is incapable of change. What therefore appears in Him to be change, may 
with far more reason be attributed to the state of the subject through which unusual phenom- 
ena, called miracles, are developed. The opening of the spiritual vision, for example, in 
the view of the Old Church Doctors, would manifest some sudden, arbitrary, and incon- 
sistent movement of the Deity totally independent of the man ; and therefore, a miracle. 
The New Church philosophy, on the other hand, attributes the phenomena to the pecu- 
liar state of the man, in connection with some wise and benevolent purpose on the part 
of the Lord ; and so far from implying anything arbitrary or capricious in the Deity, or 
the least departure from his own order, only exhibits what that order is, universally and 
particularly, where the state of the subjects admits of its natural development. Were the 
race of mankind orderly and not inverted, these phenomena would cease to be deemed 
miraculous, much less arbitrary and capricious on the part of God. They would be seen 
to pertain to human life as naturally, nay, as necessarily, as outward vision. This is not 
now seen or made manifest, because man, from the love of self and the world, has plunged 
into disorder and darkness — averted himself and all that pertains to him from heaven, and 
thereby closed his own eyes. It is equally absurd and blasphemous to attribute this aversion, 
this disorder and darkness to any, the least shadow of change in his great and wise and 
unchangeable Maker and Preserver. If it can be shown that, in any one instance, since 
the creation of man, the Lord has opened the vision of the spirit, it may with entire con- 
fidence be inferred that the fact is not inconsistent with the Divine order ; but, on the con- 
trary, is entirely consistent with that order. That men , therefore, are not now universally 
endowed with this privilege, must arise from some opposing obstacle in themselves, and 



32 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

superinduced by themselves ; or the Lord must be an unsteady, capricious, and imperfect 
Being. Which conclusion better comports with a Christian philosopher's principles, or a 
Christian disciple's faith ? 

In connection with this view I may as well here observe that the New Church is in the 
steadfast belief of such a dispensation of truth as will, in the end, restore to man this 
long lost privilege. We confidently believe that man has reached, what may be termed, 
the apogee in the descending orbit of his degradation ; and that by a progressive ascent up- 
wards, corresponding to the descending steps of his decline, he is now returning to his 
Maker and his God. And though ages may elapse before he arrive at the place whence he 
departed, yet he will as assuredly reach it, as the earth, from the wintry point of its orbit, 
will reach its summer solstice. Thereasons of this assurance, this steady and unshakable 
belief, are to be found in the great truths which have been revealed to the church — truths 
whose influence is just beginning to be felt and observed ; and whose power and progress 
can neither be weakened nor arrested, though all the theologians on earth combine for that 
purpose. We see these truths, whence they are, what they are, and how they are to 
work out this great problem. We look for no sudden or startling developements — no 
fearful signs in the visible heavens or on the earth — no terrible convulsions ; but for a 
quiet, orderly, and progressive improvement and elevation of the affections of the will, 
and the faculties of the understanding, until we shall be restored to the lost image and 
likeness of our Maker, and the tabernacle of God be again with us. This hope and this 
faith, founded on a clear perception of the truths of the Divine Word, can never be 
shaken ; though all the sectaries in Christendom assemble together in council or synod, 
and, complacently assuming infallibility, proceed, in more theologico, to dogmatise, denounce, 
and excommunicate. 

Another question intimately connected with the subject under consideration deserves 
to be noticed, viz : Do angels or spirits really act upon and influence the character and 
conduct of men during their life in the material body ? If they do, then it is absolutely 
certain that we are actually in association with them while we live and move in this 
world ; for it is clear that no such influence could be exerted by them, if all communica- 
tion were cut off. It is equally manifest also that, as they do not actually come into this 
world, in order to exert this supposed influence upon us, so we do not and need not go 
into the other world in order to be made subject to it. From this simple fact alone unbi- 
assed and enlightened reason might safely conclude that they and the world in which they 
dwell are not beyond the stars, or at an infinite distance from us ; but that they are near 
us ; and that we are, as to our immortal, intelligent essence, actually in that world while 
our material bodies are in this. How otherwise could they affect us ? But I shall pre- 
sently place the question on another ground where it will be less liable to captious objec- 
tions. 

The opinion that men are acted upon and influenced by spiritual beings, whether called 
angels, spirits, demons or devils, is coeval with the earliest records of our race, and co- 
extensive with all human society. There never was a period when it did not prevail, nor 
a people that did not entertain it. The theological systems of every nation on the globe 
with which we have any acquaintance give to the doctrine a prominent place. The Jew- 
ish, Egyptian, Indian, Persian, Chaldean, Grecian, and Roman records attest the fact. The 
ancient philosophers — men who not only impressed themselves on the age in which 
they lived, but the traces of whose deep wisdom are not yet entirely effaced — universally 
admitted and inculcated the doctrine ; not excepting even the founders of what are called 
the Atheistical sects. Thales, the earliest amongst the Grecian philosophers according 
to Cicero, Plutarch, Stobceus, and the Christian philosopher Athenagoras, taught that the 
souls of men, after death, were spiritual substances, distinguished into good and evil ; and 
that they acted directly and powerfully on men during their life in this world. The same 
doctrine was taught by the Egyptian priests before the time of Thales, as we are told by 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 33 

Jamblicus, and others ; and such was the theory of Pythagoras and Plato, as we learn 
from Plutarch, Cicero, Psellus, and Fabricius. Zeno and his followers maintained the 
same doctrine with a clearness and force hardly credible when we consider the age in 
which they lived. The Epicureans not only taught the existence and influence of de- 
parted spirits on men, but, as it appears from the history of their philosophy, recorded by 
Laertius, affirmed that God governed the world by means of genii or demons — as the souls 
of the departed were usually called. The Chaldean philosophy gives to the doctrine a 
very prominent place; and it would, perhaps, be well for some who call themselves 
" Evangelical Christians," and who ridicule all things not obvious to the senses, to read 
the account given by Psellus of the doctrines of the school, as derived from a Christian 
convert, Marcus of Mesopotamia, who had been a disciple, and, as such, well acquainted 
with its tenets. Speaking of the views entertained in regard to unclean spirits, he says, 
" it was taught that they circumvent men by art and subtlety, and deceive the minds of 
men, and draw them to absurd and unlawful passion. These things they affect, not as 
having absolute dominion over us, and carrying us as their slaves whithersoever they 
will, but by suggestion ; for, applying themselves to the spirit within us — they themselves 
being spirits also — they instil affections and pleasures, not by audible voice, but by whisper- 
ing, insinuating discourse. Nor is it impossible that they should speak without voice — if 
we consider that he who speaks, being afar off, is forced to use a greater sound, but being 
near, speaks softly in the ear of the hearer ; and if he could get into the spirit of the soul, 
he would not need any sound ; but what discourse soever he pleaseth would, by a way 
without sound, arrive there where it is to be received ; which, they say, is likewise in souls 
when they are out of the body ; for they discourse with one another without voice. After 
this manner the demons converse with us privily, so that we are not sensible which way 
the war comes upon us. They distort the possessed person, and speak by him, making use 
of the spirit of the patient, as if it were their own organ." The latter part of this seems to 
contain a very accurate description of the energumeni of the New Testament. The same 
views distinguished the doctrines of the Persian Zoroaster, and those of the Sabeans ; and 
we discover a similar philosophy in the Somnium Scipionis, the account of the " evil genius" 
of Brutus, and the demon of Socrates. This last has been the subject of so many comment- 
aries from the pens both of heathen and Christian philosophers, that I need add nothing 
to show the same views distinguished the school which he founded. 

But these opinions, it may be said, obtained only amongst the heathen, and are not there- 
fore entitled to any weight; for, strange as is the delusion, there be many at this day who, 
in the fond conceit of their own special election and pre-eminence, believe that the Crea- 
tor had very little concern about his creatures, particularly the heathen, anterior to the era 
of councils and synods — they being, from the beginning, created for the purpose of ex- 
hibiting the terrors of divine wrath, and the implacable rigors of vindictive justice, and 
therefore deprived both of the love and the knowledge of truth. The prevailing systems 
of sectarianism do very grudgingly admit them to be reasonable beings, and this only, it 
would seem, to sustain their creed proposition — rationality being accorded to secure ac- 
countability, and thereby eternal damnation. These horrid theories (and they characterize, 
in some degree, every sect in Christendom) would have us to believe that the ever-gracious 
and almighty Creator has been, from the beginning of time, principally engaged in creating 
men, in order that he might cast them into hell ! This most hideous and blasphemous con- 
ception was so frightfully embodied in the system of Calvin, that the founder of the Metho- 
dist sect, John Wesley, very characteristically observed of ir, " I defy you to say so hard a 
thing of the devil." Strange — passing strange — far more marvellous and astounding than all 
the memorabilia of Emanuel Swedenborg combined, is the fact that such abominable tenets 
should gain the assent, or receive the countenance, of a solitary human, not to say Christian, 
being ! 



34 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

But I take no pleasure in contemplating, nor have I any time to devote to, these fright- 
ful and lamentable hallucinations. I dismiss them without any form of exorcism, in order 
to refer to other testimonies which may not be so easily put aside. I appeal to the Holy 
Scriptures themselves. 

And here I make bold to say, that there is no truth more clearly taught in the Divine 
Word than the actual influence of good and evil spirits on men. This must be evident to 
any one who has read either the Old or New Testament. To say nothing of the direct and 
open intercourse of men and angels, I would ask who were they who influenced the pro- 
phets of Ahab ? Who was it that so much disturbed the soul of Saul ? Who persecuted 
Job? Who tempted the Lord Himself ? Who possessed Mary Magdalen, and who were 
they that were cast out of him who had become the habitation of those that called them- 
selves legion? Who were those designated by the Evangelists and the Apostles as the 
principalities and powers of this world ? of the air ? the prince of this world ? whose emi- 
saries are described as the " rulers of the darkness of this world ?" Can any Christian have 
the hardihood to deny that they were evil spirits, and that they exercised so fearful influ- 
ence over men, that unless the Lord had come into the world, in order to their subjugation, 
no flesh could have been saved ? An able Old Church commentator on the New Testa- 
ment declares that " we were subject to the power and delusion of evil and apostate spi- 
rits, walking according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh 
in the children of disobedience. These principalities and powers Christ despoiled on the 
cross, by the name of a crucified Jesus, and by the very sign of the cross, casting out the 
prince of the world from his dominions, temples and oracles, and from those human bodies 
he possessed ; and so openly convincing the heathens that the deities they so long had wor- 
shiped, were evil spirits, and by the miracles wrought in his name, drawing them from 
their heathen worship to Him." So great then was their power admitted to be, that they 
were regarded and worshiped by the heathens as God, as we are informed in the Psalms,* 
while on the other hand, good spirits, both by the Jews and many of the earlier Christians, 
received a little honor. Philo, Clorinthus, and Celsus, amongst the former, maintained 
that the Law and the Prophets were given by the ministration of angels ; that they were 
ambassadors of good things from men to God, and from God to men ; and that, in the go- 
vernment of the world they performed the offices attributed by Plato and other heathen 
philosphers to their demons and heroes. Philo (L. de Plant. Ho. p. 168) defends the doc- 
trine on the authority of Moses himself; and the declaration of the angel in Tobit, ch. 12, 
who said that he was one of the seven angels, who offered up the prayers of the saints, 
and who, when Tobit and Sarah prayed, " brought the memorial of their prayer before the 
Holy One," seems to favor it. Amongst the earlier Christians the question was for a long 
time warmly debated, whether they should be worshiped as Mediators. f GScumenius and 
Theodoret inform us that such worship prevailed for a long time in Laodicea, Phrygia, and 
other parts of Christendom, and that temples were erected to Michael (tiiKTripla tov ayiov 
Mi^a^X), who in Joshua (ch. v. 14), is called the captain of the Lord's host. OrigenJ 
says his office was to present the prayers and supplications of men — mortalium preces, sup- 
plicationesques curare — and Hermes§ assigns to him the government of Christians, and Ni- 
cephorus|| the superintendence of their faith ('0 ruv 'Xpiariavuv martat e<popos). 

I shall not stop here to dispute with the Romish Church about the invocation of saints, 
whether regarded as mediators of intercession or of redemption — my object being merely to 
show that amongst Heathens, Jews, and Christians, there has ever been a deeply-seated 
conviction that the spirits of the departed do act directly and powerfully upon us — a con- 
viction which, in these latter days, seems to excite priestly merriment instead of prayers. 

* Psalm xcvi. 5. 

t See Iren., L. 1, ch. 23 ; L. 2, ch. 5 ; Ephiphan. De Hseret. pp. 21, 110 ; Theodoret. De 
Haeret. ; Fab. L. 1, ch. 5; Euseb. Praep. Evang. L. 5, ch. 3, pp. 128, 321, 381. 

+ n £ pi Apxwy, L. 1, ch. 8. § L. 3, Sinn. 8, Sec. 3. || Hist. L. 7, ch. 50. 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 35 

But to return to the question as regards evil spirits. I had designed to make copious 
extracts from the ancient Greek and Roman Fathers to show what was the opinion of the 
Church from the time of the Apostles down to the era of Constantine, but my engage- 
ments are too urgent to allow me the time. I must content myself with simple refer- 
ences. 

Justin Martyr, who was amongst the earliest of the Fathers whose works have come 
down to us, in his first apology states expressly that the Lord came into the world in order 
to overcome the power which evil spirits exercised over men — "as you may now know," says he, 
" from the testimony of your own eyes ; many Christians in various parts of the world, 
healing those who are possessed by devils, and casting them out by the name of Jesus."* 
He declares also, in the same place, that " the early Christians not only cured diseases pro- 
duced by evil spirits (I hope Dr. Pond will not sneer and scoff at this), but cast them out 
and made them confess who and what they were" And in his dialogue with Trypho, he states 
that, in his time, all devils and evil spirits were under the control of Christians ; "Even 
now we who believe in Jesus adjuring all devils and evil spirits, keep them in subjection ; 
all kinds of demons being adjured, are brought under our control. "f In the same place he 
appeals to Trypho himself, "If you are diposed, it is easy for you even now to be convinced 
of these things with your own eyes. 

Origen, in his controversy with Celsus,}: says, "there are not a few Christians only who 
cast out devils from those who are possessed ; for this is done, for the most part, by the 
meanest Christians — the grace of God, and the word of Christ, demonstrating that to ex- 
pel evil spirits from the souls and bodies of men, requires not men of wisdom or emi- 
nence in the faith." He goes even further and declares that "such is the power of the 
name of Jesus, that it was effectual sometimes even when used by wicked men."§ "It is 
certain," says he, "that by the name of Jesus ten thousand devils have been cast out of the 
souls and bodies of men, who were possessed by them."|| 

Cyprian bears the same testimony, and in his letter to Demetrianus, a prosecutor of the 
Christians, says — "Come and see for yourself, and test the truth of what we say ! And 
since thou sayest thou dost worship the gods, believe the gods whom thou worshippest ; 
or, if thou wilt, believe thyself; for he that now dwells in thy bosom, and keeps thy soul 
in ignorance, shall in thy hearing speak of thee, thou shalt see them whom thou callest 
upon, entreating us ; those whom thou fearest, fearing us ; shalt see bound and trem- 
ling under our hands, those whom thou servest as gods. Surely it must be sufficient 
to confound thee in thine errors when thou shalt see thy gods at our command, instantly 
confessing what they are, not daring to conceal their cheats in thine own presence. "If 
And in his epistle to Donatushe observes, "It is the peculiar privilege of a Christian to 
compel unclean spirits to confess what they are, and to force them to depart from those 
they infest."** " These demons, being adjured by the true God, do instantly confess, and 
are forced to depart from the bodies they possess ; and you may observe, when addressed by 
us in the power of God, whipped and scorched, as it were ; and, as their torments in- 
crease, you may hear them howling, groaning, depricating and confessing, even in hearing 
of their votaries, whence'they came and when they will depart."f f Minutius makes a sim- 
ilar statement, "Most men know," says he, "and some of you yourselves, that all your 
demons when compelled by our words and prayers, to leave the bodies they have possessed, 
do with grief confess what they are, not denying their own filthiness even in your own pres- 
ence. Believe, then, their own testimony when they truly acknowledge themselves to be 
but devils. 7 ' Tertullian, in his apology, uses similar language — "when compelled, they 
come forth from the bodies they possess with great reluctance, grief and shame, when you 



* Apol. 1. p. 45. f Dial. cum. Trypho. pp. 302, 311. % Contra Cels. L. 7. p. 334 
§ L. l,p. 7. || lb. p. 20. IT Ad. Dem. p. 191. ** De Idol. Van. p. 4. ft lb. p. 14. 



36 MR. CRALLES' LETTER. 

are present ; you who have believed their lies, believe them when they speak the truth of 
themselves, for none will lie to their disgrace," &c* Dictis non stitis, si oculi vestriet aures 
permiserint vobis" are words that indicate the fullest confidence in the facts he details. 

Lactantius, who flourished near the age of Constantine, shows that this power was still 
exercised by Christians in his time. " Let any one," says he, "who is possessed, mad and 
raving, be brought before your Jupiter, — or, if he be deficient in skill, to Aesculapius or 
Apollo, — and let their priests exorcise him in the name of their supposed deities ; and the 
attempt to relieve him will be vain. But let the devils who possess him be adjured in the 
name of the true God, and they will instantly depart."! And Irenaeus relies upon the fact 
as incontestable evidence of the truth of the religion he taught. "For by these means," he 
says, "we confound the advocates of Simon Magus, and the whole tribe of deceitful here- 
tics ; forasmuch as they cannot cast out all kinds of evil spirits, but only such as are their 
confederates, if even they do this."! Origen§ and Clemens|| go even further, and declare 
that the heathen temples and oracles themselves were purged of the evil spirits who ut- 
tered voices within them. And it is a fact worthy of remark, that about this period they 
did become silent and neglected as we are told by Stoboeus,ir Plutarch,** Porphyry, ff and 
others. Irenaeus further observes — "Christians so strongly and certainly possess the power 
of casting out evil spirits, that it often happens that they who are healed and delivered 
from these evil spirits, believe and continue in the church. "^ Lactantius refers to this 
as accounting for the multitude of those who embraced the Christian faith ; for, the evil spir- 
its being cast out, "omncs qui resaratifuerint, adhcercant religioni cujus potentiam senserunt . 
Clemens appeals in the most earnest language to those who had not yet embraced the true 
faith, and says — "Be ye baptized in the name of the most Holy Trinity ; and ye will then 
if ye believe with entire faith, and in true purity of mind, have power to cast out unclean 
spirits and devils out of others, and/ree men from diseases. We beseech you, therefore, to 
become of our religion, and assure you of a certainty, that when you have advanced to the 
same faith and innocence of life with us, you shall also obtain like power over all evil spir- 
its.'^ So fully assured were they of the truth of these facts, that they were willing to 
stake their very lives on the proof of them ; "I submit this," says Tertullian, "in proof of 
the matter ; let any one be brought before your tribunals, who is manifestly possessed by 
an evil spirit, and let any Christian command him to say what he is, and he shall as cer" 
tainly confess himself to be truly a devil, as, on other occasions, he will falsely profess 
himself to be a God. Or produce any other of those who profess to be inspired by any of 
your gods; and if they do not confess themselves to be devils, not daring to lie to a Chris- 
tian, let the blood of that Christian be shed before you on the spot. What more evident 
can we offer than such an experiment ? What more satisfactory than such proof ?"|||| 

I might extend this list through many pages, but I have not the leisure, nor is the labor 
necessary. My object is accomplished, if I have shown that the primitive Christians, 
holding fast to the faith delivered in the gospels, did believe in the existence and influence 
of good and evil spirits, that such spirits did powerfully affect men while living in the 
body; and that, therefore, the*one kind was not at an inconceivable distance from us, above 
the Empyrean, nor the other in the comets, or the sun, or in the centre of the earth, as 
modern theologians have taught or inculcated. On the contrary, that they are near, nay, 
in us, and associated with us, in their own world, wherein we, as to our essential and im- 
mortal part, also dwell. 

I am aware that infidels, both heathen and Christian (for there are more of the latter 
than are supposed), have caviled at the facts stated, maintaining that the persons said to be 
possessed, were only affected with epilepsy, hypochondriasis, mania, and other nervous dis- 

* Apol. ch. 23. f L. 4, ch. 27. X L. 2, ch. 56. § Cont. Cel. L. 7, p. 376. 

|| Exhort, ad Grceces, p. 4. IT De Phan. Delph. L. 9, p. 419. 

** De Defect. Bac. p. 511. ft Apud Euseb. Prop. Evan. L. 5, ch. 1. 

XX L. 2,ch. 57. §§ Recog. L. 4, Sec. 32, 33. |||| Apol. ch. 23. 



MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 37 

eases. The position might serre as a text for another and different discourse, but I must 
pass it by. You will find the whole subject very fully discussed in a work placed in your 
hands when I last saw you, entitled, " An Inquiry into the meaning of Demoniacs, men- 
tiwned in the New Testament," published before the time of Swedenborg. 

In order, likewise, to discredit these facts, some modern sceptics have asserted that these 
phenomena — the actual possession of evil spirits — were never heard of either before or 
after this period of the Christian era. Dr. Pond and his coadjutors will probably assert the 
same ; but this is against the truth of history. These phenomena were observed before the 
Christian era. as well as long subsequent to the age of Constantine. Josephus* informs us 
that they were observed by Solomon, and that God taught him how to cast out evil spirits ; 
and Irenaeus tells us that the Jews did this before the Christian era, by the invocation of 
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. f The sons of Scasva, mentioned in Acts xix. 13, 
also cast out evil spirits. And amongst the heathen nations the same practice prevailed, 
as we are told by Plutarch,! Lucian,§ Justin Martyr, j| and Origen.1T In more modern times, 
even as late as the seventeenth century, we are told on highly credible authority, that 
similar phenomena have been witnessed. Dr. Cudworth, who has copied some accounts of 
them in his Intellectual System of the Universe,** undoubtedly believed in their truth. 
After quoting three remarkable cases from Psellus, Sennertus, and Fernelius (the two last 
being eminent physicians of his own times), this distinguished scholar and theologian ob- 
serves : " There are many other instances of this kind recorded by modern writers unexcep- 
tionable, of persons either wholly demoniacal, and possessed by evil demons (they appearing 
from their discovering secrets and speaking languages which they had never learnt), or 
else otherwise so affected or infested by them, as to have certain unusual and supernatural 
symptoms, which, for brevity's sake, we here omit. However, we thought it necessary 
thus much to insist upon this argument of demoniacs, as well for the vindication of Chris- 
tianity, as for the conviction of Atheists ; we finding some so staggering in their religion, 
that from this one thing alone of demoniacs (they being so strongly possessed that there 
neither is nor ever was such), they are ready enough to suspect the whole Gospel, or New 
Testament itself of fabulosity and imposture." 

I might dwell at much greater length on this subject, and its importance would well jus- 
tify it; but I have not the necessary leisure. I consider it as of the utmost moment that 
men should fully realize, on clear, philosophical grounds, the great practical truth, that 
they arc constantly under the influence of spiritual agencies, whose power works either for life 
or for de ith. Until they shall have a clear perception of this, it is impossible for them ever 
to distinguish between the evils which are hereditary in themselves, and those which pro- 
ceed from their associate spirits. They can never go through any rigid process of self-ex- 
amination, but believing that all the e/il suggestions, appetites, and propensities to which 
they are subject, belong to themselves — to be their own, and not to appertain to others, their 
wicked mentors — they cannot so effectually reject and cast them out. Could they be clearly 
seen to belong to, and proceed from others, they would be as readily detested and 33 quickly 
condemned in themselves, as common observation shows they are in their neighbors. How 
astute are we to discover — how more than ready are we to condemn — the faults of others.' 
But when we come to consider those which appertain to ourselves, as we believe, though pro- 
ceeding from the same common fountain, self-love, with its thousand emissaries, rises up at 
the slightest alarm, and, armed at every point, stands on the defence, ready to conceal, tole- 
rate, excuse, justify, cherish, and finally embrace them as part of oxvr selves, and to our own 
destruction. And yet, that such spiritual agents are ever at work, and that they are most 



* Arch. L. 8, ch. 2, p. 257. f Dial. Com. Tryp. p. 311. J Symp. L; 1, 9, 5, p. 706. 
§Phila. Ed. Gr. pp. 363,364. || Dial. Cum. Tryp. p. 311. If L. 4, pp. 184, 185; L. 1, p. 17.' 
**Iat Sy». Vol. 2, pp. 119, 120, 121. 

4 



38 MR. CRALLE'S LETTER. 

potent, reits upon the most undoubted testimonies of the Divine Word, upon the principles 
of sound reason, and the sensible evidences of possessed persons, which sceptical ignorance 
can neither cavil at nor deny. As to their power to produce bodily diseases, no one who 
truly believes the doctrines taught by the Evangelists and the Apostles, can possibly doubt. 
This theory, notwithstanding Dr. Pond's sneers about " exorcism" and the "materia me- 
dica," opens a wide and unexplored field for inquiry and investigation. The true origin of 
diseases, and the peculiar healing properties of medicines, and the rationale of their process 
of cure, are subjects of vast importance to mankind, and merit the gravest consideration. 
They are, to the profoundest student and most eminent practitioner, matters of acknow- 
ledged doubt and difficulty ; and should the mystery that now surrounds them be ever dis- 
pelled, it will not be by the dogmas of bigotry, or the scoffs of ignorance. 

I must now conclude this long epistle. My object thus far has been to show that, if the 
pschycological theory of the New Church be true (and upon this point the Church has in 
vain called for an opponent), the accounts given by Swedenborg of the phenomena of the 
spiritual world contain nothing to stagger our faith, if we admit the opening of his spirit- 
ual vision. This simple fact being admitted, the disclosures made must rest upon their 
own merits, free from the prejudices of education and those false conceptions of time and 
space which we erroneously apply to that world and the things which exist in it. We rid 
ourselves of the difficulties which our own misconceptions have produced, and which 
most taxes our credulity, viz : the great distanct of that world from us — the unreality (if I 
might so express myself), and consequent invisibility of its inhabitants — our own contra- 
dictions and confused ideas in respect to ourselves, and of our true position and powers in 
regard to the spiritual and the natural world. We correct the errors of early impressions 
and the delusions of our bodily senses. We see that death does not deprive us of our facul- 
ties, nor change us in ought save our outward relations; that the miscalled dead are living 
substances in human forms, with human organs, appetites, passions, and thoughts ; that the 
spiritual world, and heaven and hell, are not far distant from us in the regions of spaee, 
but near to, and even within us; and that, as to ouy natural bodies, we need not to travel 
beyond the orbits of the comets, to see, to feel, and to perceive them. We discover that the 
faculty of vision is within us, and that the objects of that vision are also within ; and the- 
only question that remains is, as I have said, the simple one, was that faculty develojjed in 
Swedenborg during his life in this- world ? That the fact asserted is not beyond the capacities ' 
©f his nature — that it is consistent with the order of the Divine Providence, and that it has 
been repeatedly exhibited in the cases of other men, I think I have shown both from rea- 
son and Revelation. Whether it was vouchsafed in his own case depends for credence ora 
bis own positive and repeated declarations, and what is yet more reliable, the wonderful 
disclosures of Truth, philosophical and religious-, which are contained in his works. By 
these let him be judged. They are before the world. They seek no concealment; they 
avoid no scrutiny ; they ask only to be heard in their own defence. And they will be heard, 
in despite of the sneers, scoffs, and misrepresentations of ignorant and bigoted sectaries. 

I must now leave you to notice in detail such of Dr, Pond's cavils and objections as you 
may deem worthy of the labor. I do not consider them as justly entitled to notice. The 
captiousness, illiberality, and cant which distinguish them calt for commiseration, though 
they deserve contempt ; and, but for the fact that they may mislead the ignorant and in- 
jure the honest, they should be allowed to pass to oblivion with the common stuff which 
such writers daily gender and cast upon the earth. 

With sincere regard,. I am, dear Sir, your friend and brother, 

RICHARD K. CRALLE. 



INTRODUCTION, 



The preceding letter will have informed the reader of the occasion of the present con- 
troversy; and we would commend any one who may be willing to accompany us to the 
end, to an attentive perusal of that, as a general preparative to a just estimate of the suc- 
ceeding argument. But, as some may prefer to proceed, at once to the consideration of 
details, a few words of explanation will but facilitate oar movement. 

It is known to nearly all those who take sufficient interest in the fortunes of Christianity 
to look beyond the pale of their own sect, that there is in this country a class of Religion- 
ists, known to others as <c Swedenborgians," but who themselves profess to be of the 
"New Jerusalem" or "New Christian Church/' — more briefly, "The New Church." 
An Encyclopaedia, a Theological Dictionary, the statistical department of an Almanac, 
may have informed them of thus much ; otherwise, the solemn warning of an Orthodox 
religious newspaper against the cf Errorists" of the day ; the sneer of some liUrateur who 
affects superiority to s< credulity" or f< superstition" in any of their forms ; or the passing 
allusion of some minute philosopher or all-wise physiologist, who pretends to account for 
certain things out of the range of ordinary experience, by " imagination" or " optical 
delusion," or some such phrase — will have brought it to his knowledge. Though not 
numerous in any particular locality, as compared with some other denominations, they are 
so widely dispersed over the Union, that he who is curious in such matters may have taken 
note of some one or other of them personally ; and common rumor had perhaps led him to 
anticipate no ordinary display of eccentricity. Witnessing nothing of the kind in public, 
he concludes that such scenes, if exhibited at all, are reserved for the stranger's own 
domicil, or while observing the rites of his religion. It may be, he has been told that 
the settled judgment of public opinion is — that they are the simple followers of a crazed 
enthusiast; that their faith is too absurd to merit inquiry, far less refutation, from men 
of sense : and that while the swelling throngs of other denominations give token that this 
ia not an irreligious age, the paucity of their numbers proves the charge. Nevertheless, 
the delusion will not die. Ever and anon some new individual is smitten with it, and 
from a class of persons who are not generally susceptible of such a disease as this is said 
to be. And his magazine or newspaper tells him further, that this is true of other parts 
of the country. If the inquirer has ever observed the operation of the sectarian feeling, 
and reflects on the statements concerning an opposing creed, to which such feeling is 
constantly prone ; if he recollects, moreover, that public opinion is often made to order, 
and that from the character of the article, it may sometimes readily be traced to the par- 
ticular factory from which it emanated,— he may not immediately concur in the justice 
of the above judgment or reasoning. He determiaef, therefore, to observe the eccentric 
a little mere narrowlv. 



40 INTRODUCTION. 

His approaches to the stranger are not half way. The aspect of the latter is the reverse 
of gloomy or morose. The quiet cheerfulness of his manner but ill befits a fanatic. If, 
then, at times he appear unsocial, it may not be always his fault. Being generally a person 
of some education, and more reading or observation, he is discovered to be as well-inform- 
ed on general subjects as ethers of his station. He is more. The reproach of Gibbon 
against the early Christians, touches not him. Though not neglectful of his private calling, 
he takes an interest in the Commonwealth, and co-operates in his sphere for the promo 
tion of civil and social good. Other things are learned, and with some surprise. He aids 
in spreading the Bible, but seems not to have much faith in the virtue of Evangelical 
Tracts. Perhaps he has taken the Temperance pledge, protesting, all the while, that if 
the Church in time past had done her duty, this would now be a work of supererogation. 
Admiring the zeal which dictated and sustains modern Missions to the Heathen, he can- 
not but think the results are ill proportioned to the expenditure of life and treasure ; and 
that, by this time, their supporters should have discovered the real obstacles to success. 
If, as often happens, there are few or none in his vicinity, of like faith, he sometimes 
attends the public worship of other Christians. Though otherwise decorous in his deport- 
ment while there, he fails to join in certain of the responses or other parts of the ser- 
vice : he does not appear to be much edified with the discourse while in progress, or to 
unite in the general eulogy afterwards. Even the declamatory eloquence of "popular 
preachers" makes but slight impression on him. He is unmoved at camp-meetings; nor 
can the utmost exertion of spiritual terrorism or the most nicely-adjusted machinery, 
frighten or decoy him to the confessional or "anxious bench.' ; True, he willingly ac- 
cords the respect which is due to the priestly function — but he takes the liberty to judge 
the individual who exercises it, on his personal merits; nor is he so overawed by the 
reputation of " Doctors of Divinity,*' as to accept their dicta without examination. The 
simplicity, then, of which the observer had heard, is not of that kind which renders its 
subject the dupe of every pretender, clerical or other, who may endeavor to practise on 
it. And though this reputed " innocent" may at times have the air of one who is conscious 
of being misconceived by others, unmanly complaint is rarely heard in turn. Another 
thing which the inquirer learns, and not the least remarkable when we consider the rest" 
less zeal of most sectaries in propagating their peculiar opinions, is, that though evincing 
no ordinary degree of attachment to his own faith, whatever it is, he does not get up a 
crusade against that of other people, or intrude it on those to whom it is distasteful — being 
apparently willing that these last " should be happy in their own way :" that, while he is 
tolerant, or conforms to custom in things indifferent, he has his own principles, to which 
he rigidly adheres — being ever more exacting of himself than of others. Is he then indif- 
ferent to the spread of what he professes to believe ? — or secretly conscious that the public 
judgment, is right, and that it is not worthy of general acceptation ? If so, why does he 
continue to adhere to an unpopular faith, and flinch not from its defence on all proper 
occasions ? — for it is said, that, however wedded to his opinions, he does not hold them 
as too sacred for discussion. Or, is that other charge better founded, that this religion 
is too abstruse for any but cultivated minds, and therefore can never be adapted to the 
popular taste ? This can scarcely be ; for, besides that it is not very congruous with the 
allegation of absurdity in the creed, and simplicity in its holders, he is told that it is 
the mysterious ingredient in the ordinary systems to which the new comer most especially 



All this piques the curiosity of our inquirer, and determines him to resort for satisfac- 
tion to the individual himself. Nor does he find him inacccessible, or exclusive, as a 
fanatic would naturally be. For, the New Churchman, while he is prompt to repel the 
impertinent querist, or to shun the dealer in profane raillery, holds himself in readiness 
to declare his faith, and the reasons for it, whenever they are sought in a proper spirit;. 



INTRODUCTION. 41 

The former had already observed, that in public there was no wanton violation of the 
conventional rules of society — and now, on nearer acquaintance, he finds the same conform- 
ity in private. Like other Christians, this man acknowledges the Bible as the guide of 
his faith and practice, and is perhaps quite as familiar with its contents. His orisons, 
though brief, daily ascend from the circle of his family, aided by a form, it may be, or 
else in extemporaneous accents, as his preference may dictate ; but, it is observed, they 
are exclusively addressed to One who, in the devotions of others, stands rather as the 
medium than the object of prayer. If he rather turns away from the numberless books 
of piety in which his evangelical friends eeem so much to delight, when they have 
received the imprimatur of the proper authorities, it is because he is furnished with others 
which yield him purer instruction and more unmixed pleasure. What, then, is the pecu- 
liarity which causes him to be " suspected" by his neighbors of a different faith ? 

The inquirer is not long to seek ; for, when but a few of the fundamental principles 
of this faith are announced, he sees, at a glance, that they not only diverge from, but 
necessarily exclude, the prevalent dogmas on the same subjects. If the holder of them be 
sincere — and, while they disturb not his self-possession, they seem to commend them- 
selves with no ordinary force to their votary — he cannot well co-operate or fraternize 
farther with those around him. To one who is otherwise thoughtful, but who has im- 
bibed the current religious opinions of his country or friends without especial examination 
of their merits, when a new system is offered for examination, certain prominent objec- 
tions spontaneously present themselves/ These are brought up in the conference. The 
New-Churchman, though usually silent among noisy polemics, does not refuse him a fair 
hearing. Being familiar with all the common places of the Evangelical — for perhaps he 
has been one himself, or otherwise the nature of his studies has brought him acquainted 
with their distinctive views and the stereotyped arguments in their behalf — he has antici- 
pated them all, and many more which may not have occurred to the objector. Some more 
formal and authentic statement of this faith is requested. It is given. The inquirer is 
struck with its simplicity and brevity — its seeming plausibility — the symmetry and har- 
mony of its parts — its apparent support from Scripture — and its marked difference in some 
of these jespects from most others. When he is farther informed as to the rule of life 
of the respondent, and his test of Christian character, the mystery which formerly hung 
over his conduct is dispelled ; he acknowledges that it 13 natural to one in his situation, 
and that if this be a heresy, it must be vanquished by other arms than those with which 
the sects encounter each other. 

But, whence was it derived ? He is informed, that it may be found, as its remoter 
source, in the writings of a Swedish nobleman, who, in all the earlier part of his manhood, ' 
vras widely known as a practical statesman, a man of science and a philosopher, and left 
numerous works of merit in those departments ; but who for many years prior to his death 
exclusively employed his pen on theological subjects. The many volumes are exhibited; 
their different classes and objects explained : but, while the matter of them is intended 
for all time and all grades of intellect, they were at first addressed to the learned , who 
must themselves prepare and adapt it in different portions to the taste an I wants of the vari- 
ous orders of ability. Though this was necessarily a work of time, something has been al- 
ready done towards it, and more is in a state of progress. 

Does Swedenborg reject this or the other tenet which is commonly held? So does 
many a high authority among the Orthodox themselves. Does this or the other part of his 
own system seem strange ? It may be true nevertheless. One long habituated to the dun- 
geon's gloom, is disturbed when first re-admitted to the glare of day. And the victim of 
Error, who has perhaps also yielded her his veneration, may not immediately recognize 
the lineaments of Truth when first presented to his notice. A process of disruption and 
crumbling in other systems is manifestly going on. The progress of science, the changes 



42 INTRODUCTION. 

in philosophical theory — the improvements in Biblical interpretation — all show a tendency 
towards this. The past history of the Church is not unknown to his followers. The pre- 
sent state of Christendom is open to their survey.- They are aware of what is taught as 
Christianity by different schools, — and in reflecting on the compounds, heterogeneous in 
themselves and conflicting with each other — have come deliberately to the conclusion, 
that the truth has been lost to the Church, and that it needs to he restored, if man is ever to 
attain the end of his being. Having furthermore examined the system which is offered as 
replacing more than was lost, they deliberately accept it as answering all the ends of such 
restoration. 

The New Churchman is not, however, so sanguine as to suppose that this will be imme- 
diately or generally apparent to the world. He adopted it freely himself; others must do 
the same. The reception which new truth has ever met with — and from those whom it 
would most benefit — forbids the hope that this will prove an exception ; and that the 
clergy should surrender without a struggle their dominion over the opinions and con- 
sciences of their flocks, and subside into their proper character of helpers of their faith and 
exemplars of conduct to their brethren — would be a miracle great beyond all precedent. 
They would of course regard any system which put them in the wrong as assuming a hos- 
tile attitude, and therefore as a cause of internecine war; though the occasion of its decla- 
ration, and the system of tactics to be adopted in its conduct, would depend on circum- 
stances yet to be developed. 

Thus far our inquirer has seen or heard nothing unnatural or impossible, and nothing 
to check his desire of farther information. He would willingly know something of the 
past history of this doctrine. It is freely imparted. He learns, that during the last cen- 
tury, when all hope of speedily re-uniting the riven ranks of Christians had abandoned 
the most sanguine: — at a season of remarkable religious declension, and when infidelity 
was rampant, these works were given to the world. They were first offered to the Church 
authorities throughout Protestant Europe as clearing up the points which had occasioned 
all the principal controversies among Christians, therefore as a ground on which they 
might compromise their differences, and from whence to repel the common enemy. The 
remedy, which if timely employed, might have restored efficiency to the Church and 
health to the State, is rejected by the Clergy, and the disease is permitted to spread. The 
consequence may be recognized in that well nigh universal convulsion, which overthrew 
Church and State, and whose reverberations are lengthened to our own day. 

But the doctrine was not lost in the general confusion. A few of the inferior clergy 
and of the laity had recognized it as indeed a treasure which was thrown among the care- 
less crowd. They cherished it in private for years. At length it is committed to the 
charge of a separate society authorized to recruit the ranks of its graduates and to preserve 
it through successive ages until the world should be better disposed to give it a fair hearing. 
It has had its vicissitudes, but thus far it has been more than preserved. Established 
churches have generally affected a dignified silence respecting this novel species of "dissent. 7 * 
Perhaps they would not give it a factitious importance by a formal notice and refutation* 
and then the delusion might die of itself; perhaps — " discretion was the better part of 
valor." If, notwithstanding, it should come athwart the attention of some of their ad- 
herents, not altogether content with things as they are, inquiry must be diverted by plea- 
sant allusions to "the dreams and reveries of the Swedish enthusiast," fortified with 
manufactured anecdotes, all apro2xts. If this expedient did not suffice, a storm of ridicule 
must be poured upon "the followers of a madman." The timid conscientiousness of 
weak brethren must be stirred up ; female delicacy alarmed ; knowing shrugs, significant 
inuendos, and all the lighter missiles of intrigue brought into requisition — to induce, if 
possible, a suspicion of something — not simply absurd— -but offensive to good morals, qj 
unfit for " ears polite." 



INTRODUCTION. 43 

In the ranks of Dissent it has had opponents, more open indeed, for they have embodied 
their objections in a definite form — but not more scrupulous. With one or two exceptions, 
these also have departed from the rules of all honorable, not to say Christian controversy. 
In lieu of appeals to Reason or Scripture, garbled quotation, caricature of the author's 
views, addresses to sectarian prejudice or ancient associations and such like small acts oi 
the controversialist make up the staple of their books. But if this doctrine has met with 
assailants, it has not been without its stalwart yet courteous champions. Their several de- 
fences are extant ; let the uncommitted judge if they have been successful. Its friends 
have steadily increased through all opposition — and the time is thought to be not very dis- 
tant when the battle must be waged on a higher and fairer field. Already and more than 
once has the contest been carried into neighboring territory. Let them see to their own 
position. 

It is now more than fifty years since this doctrine was introduced into the United States- 
And here, as abroad, silence, raillery, satire, secret denunciation, (sometimes ferreted from 
its hiding-places,) have followed in like succession. Nor could they spell it away from 
this region. Then covert allusion to the heresy from the pulpit, or an occasional article 
in a Newspaper or a Review would indicate that something more decisive was required to 
check its advance. Thus, it appears that substantially the same tactics have been employed 
here as elsewere ; except that, seeing freedom of Religion is guaranteed to all, more strenu- 
ous efforts have been needed to forestai public opinion ; and with a like success. The indo- 
lent, the subservient to authority, have been content that their judgments on this as on other 
subjects should take their color from those of their leaders. The bigot has drawn on his 
cloak: the over scrupulous have been unnerved: the prudish startled. But all were not 
such. Some have been found who were not to be frightened with bugbears, and dared to 
hail the ghost which came before them in such a questionable shape. A brief trial of this 
process enabled them to detect the fraud which had so long and so successfully been prac- 
tized on confiding innocence. In some instances the reaction was proportional. Not only 
were they disabused of their prejudices — or indignant at the calumnies which had been so 
sedulously propagated — by Christian people ! and Christian Ministers ! ! — they had found 
the pearl of price elsewhere sought in vain, and determined to cast in their lot with those 
who had so patiently borne their reproach. 

It was intimated that the objections to this Church, from whatever quarter proceeding, 
were of a very uniform cast — and that most of them were embraced in her extant apolo- 
gies. Our inquirer requests a sight of some of these. The existing state of society, and 
the remaining strength of clerical influence will readily account for the popular ignorance 
and misconception of its character. The oral report of its leading principles had satisfied 
him that they would rationally explain the supposed peculiarities of their holders. And 
whereas he had then thought, that for the explosion of the system " new measures'" must 
be adopted; he is now farther convinced, that, as zealously and frequently as it has been 
assailed, its undermine or overthrow, if ever to be witnessed, is an event yet to come. 

It is matter of common remark, that during the present generation, a renewed interest 
in religious studies has been manifested both in Europe and Ameriea. Within a few years 
this tendency has been marked by a wider range of inquiry and a more exact scrutiny into 
the comparative merits of different systems of Theology. More recently still, that of Swe- 
denborg lias been included in its scope — and this has been followed by an accession to the 
number of his disciples — and shall we say it — from the number of those who know whatsis 
to be learned in other schools and who have too much gelf-respeet to ally themselves with 
ought that should justly derogate from their title to the regard of their fellow-citizens. 

It was not to be supposed that the guardians of Orthodoxy — who had been so early and 
uncompromising in their hostility, would permit this to pass unnoticed. The signal for 
action _was given. The campaign is opened by skirmishers who fired their pieces from 



44 INTRODUCTION. 

newspapers and magazines, charged — not indeed with very formidable argument— but 
with loud lamentations of the degeneracy of the times — of the apostacy of the hopeful — 
of the boldness of infidelity under the guise of religion — and closing with warnings to the 
faithful against the insidious approaches of heresy in its Protaean forms, and of this in 
particular. But the crushing blow, it seems was to be dealt by veteran hands. Two learned 
professors of Theology — hailing from the most enlightened quarters of the union — prac- 
tised polemics, the reputed victors in many a field, seek the encounter. The eldest of 
these has long been known as the respected incumbent of a chair in the earliest and most 
celebrated Seminary of sacred learning in America. Unlike his predecessors, he does not 
regard his antagonist as altogether contemptible. He acknowledges that there are many 
excellent traits to be found in him — some of which he would gladly imitate himself; but, 
bound as he was to discriminate between these and others of an opposite character, not to 
denounce the latter would be a dereliction of sacred duty. And he too was met — by one of 
the " apostates !" But again we say — let the candid, the uncommitted public judge between 
them. To the general tone and temper of Dr. Woods, in his Strictures, with a few fla- 
grant exceptions, we have but little to object. But we are admonished by past experience 
in similar cases, not to hope from his magnanimity an acknowledgment of his numerous. 
mistakes, clearly as they have been pointed out by Prof. Rush* 
The other— but this brings us to Dr. Pond. 



A LAYMAN'S 
REPLY TO DR. POND, 



CHAPTER I. 

SWEDEXBORG. THE VARIOUS CLASSES OF HIS READERS. TO WHICH OF THEM 

DR. POND BELONGS. CHARACTER OF HIS ATTACK. 

" Swedenborgianism Reviewed," is the title of a work by Dr. Enoch Pond, 
Professor hi the Theological Seminary at Bangor, Maine, in which he under- 
takes to criticise what usually passes under that name. This he had a perfect 
right to do. The works of Sw^edenborg are public property. His public and 
personal character are matters of record. His pretensions as a man of Science, 
as a Philosopher, and hi the more important character of Theologian, are be- 
fore the world. His merits in each of these departments are a fair subject of 
investigation ; and, provided the inquiry has been properly conducted, the 
result may be announced to the public without justly giving offence to his 
followers. We are not aware that they have ever deprecated such inquiry, 
or shunned a manly and honorable discussion of principles which they hold 
forth to the world as true ; although intimations of their having showm an undue 
sensibility on such occasions appear in this and other books which have been 
written agamst them. Their own standing and claim to public regard as a 
body of professing Christians may also be rightfully canvassed — nor could they 
hope to escape animadversion themselves, if as a body they had done ought 
which violated the proprieties of their profession. They only complain of 
having been condemned without hearing ; or that hostile and prejudiced re- 
ports have been accepted as true without reference to the defence. 

The philosophical writings of Swedenborg since a short period after he 
ceased to write on such subjects, have been but little knowm except to a few 
(some of whom, it is surmised, have availed themselves of that circumstance 
for the purpose of plunder); but having recently undergone an English version, 
have served to introduce his name to a new class of readers. These views 
he did not profess to have derived from any higher source than his own intel- 
lect, exerted in the ordinary mode, though aided by the best lights of his time. 
And yet. notwithstanding the advance of Science in the interval, the reports of 
their merits, by respected authorities in their several kinds, have been almost 



46 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

uniformly favorable. Dr. P. however has included them in the scope of his 
inquiries, and, as will appear, finds as little to commend in the author in this 
as in other respects. We might question the competency of the judge, but are 
willing to meet him here also. 

But be his philosophy true or false, complete or defective, that is not now the 
principal matter in question. Emanuel Swedenborg was a theologian — and of 
no ordinary claim. Of high social position — the reward of personal merit and 
services — of unstained morals and exemplary piety — while honored for his 
various attainments, in the meridian of life and the full vigor of intellect, he sud- 
denly declares that he has been sup ernatur ally called to the discharge of a high 
and novel sacred function : that this was rendered necessary by the state of 
the Christian World, which through long centuries had been declining from 
truth and duty, and had now at length reached its crisis : that it was nothing 
less than to restore the genuine Christian doctrine which had been lost to the 
church : to exjDound the inner meaning of the Divine Word : to re-assert on 
new grounds the immortality of the soul,- and declare the nature and laws of 
the future world : — and that, not as a 'personal privilege, but to enable him 
properly to discharge this office, he was invested with a power similar to that 
of the prophets and apostles of old — for nothing less would suffice — the power 
of spiritual vision and consequent intercourse with those who had departed 
from this to the other life. From thenceforth he abandoned all secular studies 
and active pursuits and continued to the end of his protracted life to act in 
accordance with his declaration. 

His pretensions, strange and astounding as they are, are thus stated at once in 
all their length and breadth, knowing full well the reception they are like to meet 
with from certain classes of mind — to several of which we will for a moment 
advert. The bare statement of such a pretence in this age, will doubtless, in 
the opinion of the majority, carry its condemnation on its face and stamp it as 
unworthy of farther notice. AVith such we have no controversy : let them 
• ; pass by to the other side." Be it said to them in passing, however, " The po- 
litical events of the last fifty years, which may be but the beginning of the end," 
and the religious history of the same period, have essentially modified the 
views of some who were once as confident as yourselves. The first have sat- 
isfied them that society cannot subsist without religion of some kind. Be- 
lieving that Christianity in the abstract is the best of religions, they ask to know 
definitely " what it is ?" and yet the multiplication of sects in spite of the in- 
creased study of the Bible, and the virulence of the sectarian feeling even in 
this land of liberty, have gone far to convince them that here if any where is 
' : nodus dignus vindice." 

An opposite class, though small, from the first, were not so frighted from 
their propriety, by the startling claim, as to refuse all hearing. Considerations 
such as those just mentioned, early induced inquiry into the character and 
credentials of the messenger and the purport of his message. Not having the 
fear of the world, but their own permanent interest and that of their fellow- 
men before their eyes, the inquiry was honest, and the result, its acceptance 
as true. Their company has increased and is increasing. Now if this be alia 
delusion, the number of the deluded is such as should naturally excite the 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 47 

compassion of the wise and virtuous and a corresponding effort to rescue the 
victims. But if, peradventure, the message should after all be true, it is as 
much addressed to Dr. Pond and the Evangelicals as to us. And either of 
these, if there were no other, would be a sufficient reason for scrutiny. Re- 
fusal to inquire will tend to their detriment. Weighing in a false balance can- 
not deceive the Searcher of hearts; and deliberate rejection will beat their 
peril and on their responsibility. 

Accordingly there is a class by whom the command " to prove all things," 
and "to try the spirits*' is not so easily evaded as by the first. A part of these 
as a salvo to conscience may give it a cursory examination, but with a foregone 
conclusion that it cannot be genuine. To such a disposition, the truth never 
was and never can be manifested ; and it is not surprising that these should 
return in disappointment from an. enterprise which was not so much as es- 
sayed by the others. There is still another portion who will concede the pos- 
sibility of such a mission, and will profess a willingness to test the truth of the 
message by its internal evidence, but are possessed by certain fond opinions 
early imbibed or long confirmed, which are held as unquestionable. These 
will disclaim infallibility : acknowledge that truth is above all price : and that 
it is desirable to have more than we already possess, if for no other reason 
than its tendency to effect a re-union of Christians. But when they find that 
the admission of its validity would be attended with the casting down of these 
cherished idols from their shrines, the test of fidelity is more than they can 
abide ; and the pretended welcome of such, after passing through various 
gradations, may often result in open hostility. 

Of such we verily believe is the author of the book before us. Dr. Pond is 
of the communion of "Orthodox" or, as they are called in New England, " Cal- 
vinistic Congregationalists," and subscribes to the Westminster Confession of 
Faith. Circumstances call his attention to the principles of the New Church. 
He instinctively perceives that they are irreconcilable with those he has inherited 
and which he teaches to his pupils. He rejects them of course. Not content 
with repudiating for himself, he desires to impress his opinion on others. He 
considers Swedenborgianism to be anti-evangelical m. its character and influence, 
as much so perhaps as any system of error now prevailing in the midst of us. 
But as " it is not understood,"' and the works of Swedenborg are not very " in- 
telligible" to his friends, something must be done to counteract the efforts for 
its propagation. " It must be thoroughly reviewed and canvassed," " ploughed 
up from the bottom." And this he accepts as his own sjDecial vocation. Now 
to all this we have nothing to object. If his conclusions were unfavorable and 
honestly reached, he was bound to discard the system ; and to announce those 
conclusions to the public is quite as natural in a Professor of Theology as in 
another. But as such an one is presumed to know something of all systems, 
and moreover to be able to give his reasons for rejecting those which differ from 
his own, something more will be required of him than the bare annunciation 
of his judgment ex cathedra. 

And nothing can exceed the apparent fairness with which he enters on his 
task, according to his own account in his preface. New Churchmen had com. 
plained that those who rejected the peculiarities of their system were ignorant 



48 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

of the works in" which they were contained. " To the benefit of this apology" 
the Professor avers, " he is no longer entitled." (So much the worse for him, 
if true.) He collects the principal theological works of Swedenborg and the 
chief productions of his followers in which they have explained and defended 
his principles, with the view of giving them " an attentive perusal" It thus ap- 
pears that "he has had the means of coming to a knowledge of the subject." 
And that his readers may see that this is no vague pretence he gives a list of 
them in his preface. " He had read nearly all the works of Swedenborg — that 
have been translated — some of them several times. Of the works of his prin- 
cipal commentators and apologists, he had read almost forty volumes. He had 
studied and pondered them to his entire satisfaction." He had thus gone to the best 
sources of information — had read not a volume on the other side, and indeed 
could find none — a proof by the way that we have not mistaken the policy 
pursued by our opponents. The result of all his reading and reflection he im- 
parts to his pupils in a series of letters — and to the public in this little book. 

" And this too is well," the reader will say, " and surely one who speaks after 
such preparation, must have something important or formidable to deliver." 
As it has turned out, it is even very well. For he has hereby enabled us to 
judge of the reality of his pretence. The means of knowledge he may have 
possessed, but how did he use them ? Take a few specimens. A particular tract 
of Swedenborg happens to have a double title, and others have noticed that 
his perusal of it was so very attentive that he has twice given it in his catalogue 
as if it were two different works. And " the worthy member of the New 
Church" who loaned him several of the writings, informs us that all " unintel- 
igible" and " unreadable" as they are, five volumes of the Arcana Coelestia 
were despatched by the Professor in a week ! and that too without neglecting 
the ordinary duties of his chair. The works of the second class contain by 
anticipation answers to nearly all his cavils ; and as he must have been con- 
scious of this without very deep study, it was more convenient to notice them 
here once for all. than to canvass their arguments in the body of the volume. 
" Oh that mine enemy had written a book," said Job. Thankful we are that 
our antagonist has written a preface. 

Coleridge is reported to have said, that " Frenchmen were like grains of 
gunpowder — each by itself smutty and contemptible, but mass them together 
and they are terrible indeed." Thus spoke the prejudiced Englishman of those 
whom he is pleased to consider the " natural enemies" of his country. We 
quote the sentiment — not to endorse its truth, for we regard it as flagrantly 
unjust and unworthy of its distinguished author — but because it was forcibly 
recalled by Prof. Pond's book, — the first part of what is there asserted being 
emphatically true of this. The book as a whole, indeed, is not at all formidable 
to any one who is but tolerably acquainted with the subject, because its con- 
stituent parts are separately so weak and so easily overthrown : and with 
weapons furnished or suggested by itself. For, a few puerilities excepted 
which seem never to have occurred to any one except himself, it contains noth- 
ing — literally nothing but what has been alleged and refuted over and over again. 
In the apologies included in his list, the objections are fairly cited and honestly 
met. and a candid or courageous antagonist would have directed his assault 
against those replies, before he reiterated the charges.- 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 49 

And to what class of men in modern times, is he indebted for the most con- 
spicuous example of this honorable mode of warfare % Let Doctors of Divinity 
say. " Impudence and ignorance," says Bishop Home, " may ask a question in 
three lines which it will cost learning and ingenuity thirty pages to answer : 
and when this is done, the same question shall be triumphantly asked again 
the next year as if nothing had been written on the subject." And speaking of 
Bolingbroke's arguments against the authority of Scripture, Dr. Young remarks, 
" They have been long since answered. But he is not "without precedent in 
this point. His repetition of already refuted arguments seems to be a deistical 
[in this case an evangelical] privilege ; from which few of them are free. Even 
echoes of echoes are to be found among them, which evidently shows that 
they write not to discover truth but to spread infection ; which old poison re- 
adininistered will do as well as new, and it will be struck deeper into the con- 
stitution by repeating the same dose. Besides, new writers will have new 
readers. The book may fall into hands untainted before, or the already infect- 
ed may swallow it more greedily in a new vehicle, or they that were disgusted 
with it in one vehicle may relish it in another." But his proceedings in this 
respect may perhaps be accounted for in another way. Our professor is " a 
man of system" and completely imprisoned by that to which he adheres. He 
hears something of the doctrines of the New Church, and sees that they are 
diverse from his own. which he has no thoughts of relinquishing. While pre- 
tending to study the new system, he therefore does not lend it a sufficient 
amount of tentative faith to survey it in its full proportions and hi all its com- 
prehensive bearings. Far otherwise • he brings with him his hypothesis ready 
made and searches for facts in its support. And what is that hypothesis % 
We simply mention it here, as it will again be noticed when we come across 
some of its pretended proofs. The moral and religious character of Sweden- 
borg throughout life could not be impugned without exposing himself to the 
charge of calumny. No probable motive could be suggested for hatred to in- 
dividuals or classes of men, or for his alleged misrepresentation of their religious 
opinions. No selfish end was to be promoted by the hypocritical or false as- 
sumption of the character in which he professed to appear. To have assumed \\ 
without sufficient warrant would have been the height of blasphemy. His 
intelligence up to that period and on all other subjects afterwards could not be 
disputed. And yet to justify Swedenborg in all respects would be to condemn 
himself. What then remained but the expedient so agreeable to vanity — which 
does not disturb the bigot in his self-complacency-— but which he even dons as a 
cloak of charity, — the charge of " insanity" or " monomania." The idea once 
conceived, everything which militates against it is viewed with a jaundiced eye 
or must be suppressed from view. The theory must be built up at all hazards, 
and everything which ingenuity can mutilate, distort, or misplace, must be 
employed in the fabric. No matter if the same purpose has been essayed by 
others before. No matter if some of the materials have been condemned as 
worthless and dispersed to the winds, and the rest restored to their proper 
place hi the system. " Evangelicals" are not aware of this, — and so " the 
creature ? s at his dirty work again." Yet hearken to the close of his preface. 
*« If I am not entirely deceived, the following pages have been written not 



50 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

in a spirit of hatred or envy, but of love. I have aspersed no one's character : 
I have impeached no one's motives ; I have assailed no one, living or dead, 
with harsh and bitter words. If I have been under the necessity of publishing 
some unpleasant things they are such as have grown directly out of the sub- 
ject • and, of course, the fault is not mine. My single object has been to pro- 
mote the cause of truth and righteousness in the earth ; and in aiming at this, 
I have endeavored to treat all concerned kindly and fairly. The whole has 
been written under a solemn sense of duty, and with continual prayer for the 
Divine direction and blessing." " Ma Conscience !" we involuntarily exclaim- 
ed on recurring to this precious morceau after first running through the volume, 
" could this have been written before or after the completion of the book % 
Many and fierce have been the conflicts of religious parties in this generation : 
various the weapons and often unscrupulously used j but rich as our country 
is in specimens, and many of them as we have witnessed, we do not remember 
ever to have seen the parallel of this. Can the writer have hoped to deceive 
the most prejudiced of his readers by this thin veil of Pharisaism? Or, blind- 
ed by the intensity of his theological hate, had he actually deceived himself?'' 



CHAPTER II. 

DR. POND'S WORK, STILL FURTHER CHARACTERISED.— PERVERSIONS OF THE HIS- 
TORY OF SWEDENBORG'S LIFE. 

But the -spirit of the book is not immediately manifested. An appearance of 
candor, so far as depends on marks of quotation and reference to authority is 
kept up throughout. The page fairly " bristles with inverted commas." But it 
requires only a slight knowledge of the wiles of controversialists to satisfy the 
wary reader that never is truth more effectually suppressed or falsehood more 
artfully suggested than under such a cloak. A conciliatory tone pervades one 
or two of the early chapters, only a few discordant notes being heard. Im- 
portant concessions are made ; but an incident is exaggerated here— suspicion 
insinuated there. The reader having thus tasted of .what is set before him — ■ 
and at first finding nothing very repulsive— (what might have been so to a 
healthy palate is perhaps suited to his idiosyncrasy)— is lured on to partake 
more largely. Only a few drops of gall are at first infused. As his taste be- 
comes farther vitiated the quantity is increased, until towards the close the 
power of discrimination is lost, and the venom is poured in without scruple 
and almost without disguise. 

Thus we have in the first Chapter a slight sketch of some of the leading in* 
cidents in the life of Swedenborg. We are told that he was respectably de- 
scended, and honorably connected ; reared in the bosom of piety and carefully 
educated : that he was ever a diligent student and made large acquisitions in 
various branches of exact and useful knowledge : that he was a voluminous 
and approved writer on such subjects : that he was a frequent and extensive 
traveller — and at such times a close observer of whatever could add to the 
fund of his materials for reflection : that he was early called to a post of honor 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 

51ed 

and usefulness which he filled to the satisfaction of all concerned, and receiv 
from his sovereign a fitting reward of his fidelity in an increase of his dignity. 
Thus much was necessary for the information of the reader and could not be 
denied without contradicting all contemporaneous evidence. But even here 
he has contrived to suggest inferences from a few facts, themselves very 
natural, which they will not fairly yield, and which, when duly expanded, are 
afterwards called to the support of his grand theory. A few words will suffice 
for the correction of each. 

Swedenborg had said that from early childhood his thoughts were much 
absorbed by sacred themes > and that he often conversed with the clergy on the 
nature of "faith and charity"— but that he was providentially "kept back from 
reading dogmatic and systematic theology, by reason that unfounded opinions 
and inventions might have insinuated themselves which with difficulty after- 
wards had been extirpated." And this the Reviewer thinks " will serve to ac- 
count for the fact that in after years his knowledge of such Theology was not 
more accurate ;" — to which we may add—" as also for the fact that he never 
became the dupe of Evangelicals." And has the Reviewer never heard of 
" the difficulty of unlearning errors ?" If not— we can tell him that some of his 
readers would not want a better exemplification of the principle than himself. 
But is it true that Swedenborg was unfurnished with the learning necessary to 
a correct interpretation of the Scriptures % We have but to adopt the reply of 
another when the doubt was suggested long ago. " By ' dogmatic and system- 
atic theology' he meant such as is contained in the Formula Concordia, and the 
numerous bulky works supporting the doctrines of that book. Will (Dr. Pond] 
say that the study of these or of similar works in exposition of Roman creeds 
are the likeliest means of supplying the knowledge required for that purpose % 
. . . Will he affirm, that a man of the attainments which he allows Sweden- 
borg to have made,— a man who after being religiously brought up by his 
father (a pious bishop according to the piety of that time, and author of many 
religious books) — who had gone through the course of study pursued by men 
of science and literature at the University of Upsal— who had afterwards added 
the study of the Hebrew language, and who had been a diligent reader of the 
Scriptures through his whole life ; that such a man as this should be ignorant 
of any essential part of that knowledge which is required for the right interpret- 
ation of the Bible 1 Could he be less qualified for such a task by the studies 
which he had pursued, than Luther by his occupations hi the cell of his mo- 
nastery ?"— In*. Rep. M S. II. 475. 

Swedenborg in his youth wrote poems, and it was remarked by a surviving 
friend that he excelled in them, as in whatever else he attempted. Our re- 
viewer can readily believe this, and, slurring over the science and philosophy 
which flowed from his more practised pen, insinuates that Imagination was 
his strong side, " as is evident from many of his theological writings." Sweden- 
borg was a man, and in early manhood bestowed his affections on a young 
lady, the daughter of his friend and patron by whom his suit was favored. 
The feeling was not immediately reciprocated by the lady — and when assured 
that it probably would not be, although he had been betrothed, he resigned 
his pretensions and determined in favor of a single life as better fitted to one 



52 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

of his pursuits. True he never again wrote or spoke of the affair so far as is 
known from his own writings or those of any of his friends — though he was 
ever pleased with female society and respectful to the sex. But more than 
half a century after his death, a document is exhumed, on the strength of which 
it is reported, that to a stranger who called on him in reference to his remark- 
able gift, he once mentioned his early love in a tone of pleasantry ; as also that 
he informed her surviving children, in answer to similar special inquiry, " that 
he could converse with their departed mother whenever he chose ;" and this is 
the solitary allusion to the matter in any paper which has come down to us. 
Nevertheless, this Reviewer has discovered that " the impression was never 
lost from his heart*'' and that it colored all his speculations on such subjects. 

When Count Hopken said that Swedenborg "detested metaphysics," he 
meant such metaphysics as were then current and usually taught in the schools 
of the Materialist, the Idealist, and the Sceptic. But that he altogether refrain- 
ed from such studies is the reverse of the truth. False metaphysics he believed 
to be pregnant with infinite mischief to morals and religion ; and who that 
will look around him at the present day or recal the history of the past age 
will be found to deny it % He rejected the spurious science, but believed that 
there was a true philosophy of the mind, and that when discovered it would 
appear not as the adversary, but as the handmaid of Religion. He had tra- 
versed the realms of nature, searching them with curious eye, and now aspired 
to the higher knowledge of the soul. It was indeed the scope aud end of all 
his inquiries, but as the usual guides were incompetent, he became the pio- 
neer himself. He believed that as the soul dwelt in the body, an acquaintance 
with her should first be sought by the paths of Anatomy and Physiology. Be- 
fore his day this route had been too much neglected, though it has been much 
explored since. In the " Introduction" to the " Animal Kingdom," he alludes 
to certain new doctrines which he thinks he has established, and which con- 
stitute a part of the new method by which he hoped ultimately to complete 
his philosophical theory and thus be introduced to her whom he had so faith- 
fully and diligently sought. " All very natural," the reader will say, " in a phi- 
losopher who would not have his speculations for ever bound down to earth : 
and the surest method of rearing a solid fabric, as distinguished from the air- 
castles of his predecessors, was to lay a broad foundation of Science." Our 
Bangor Professor, however, who quotes the eloquent though modest passage in 
which he announces his intentions and hopes, ingeniously suggests that " this 
indicates in what channel the thoughts of Swedenborg were now running ;" 
decides that the connexion between the soul and the body is not only mys- 
terious but " inscrutable," and thinks that this is the direct road to madness. 

The pursuit was followed up in this direction* and a point attained which no 

* Dr. P. says bis design was never earned out. This is a mistake. The doctrines of 
•« forms," of" seriesand degrees" pervade all his philosophy; his posthumous MSS. contain 
materials for filling the chasm in his physiology, as also a more extended system of Psychology 
than that embraced in the economy of the Animal Kingdom The doctrines of " Influx," 
of" Correspondences" and " Representatives*' are shadowed forth in his last philosophical 
work, " The Worship and Love of God," in which, as in a sublime Ode, he has sung the 
wonders of Creation, the primeval state of Earth, and the happy condition of our unfallcn race. 
The latter doctrines were placed on a surer basis and applied to higher purposes in his Theo- 
logical works. 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 49 

philosopher had ever reached before. The results are embodied in a work 
which, if he had written nothing more, should be regarded as the crown of all 
mental effort ; and he might have sat down in complacency as one who was 
conscious of having paid "the debt which every man owes to his profession." 
But while contemplating the gathered fruits of all his toil, and applying the 
principles which he had developed, he suddenly paused and declared to his 
friends that he was called to other and higher duties, for the proper perform- 
ance of which he had been specially gifted as related above. Swedenborg's 
own account of this extraordinary event in letters to his friends is brief and 
modest. Those in his published works are sometimes accompanied with 
solemn asseverations of its truth ; and in his letter to the king of Sweden he 
declares his willingness to attest the same "by the most solemn oath that can 
be administered." Dr. P. has quoted the more detailed statement given by 
Robsahm in his Anecdotes. He probably knew that this was reported from 
memory after the lapse of years and that its accuracy in some respects is 
doubted by many intelligent New Churchmen. But it suited his purpose to 
assume it as genuine because it embraced a few particulars which were sus- 
ceptible of perversion. The narrative is as follows : " I was in London, and 
one day dined rather late by myself, at a boarding house, where I kept a room, 
in which at pleasure, I could prosecute the study of the natural sciences. I 
was hungry, and ate with great appetite. At the end of the meal, I remark- 
ed that a vapor, as it were, clouded my sight, and the "walls of my chamber 
appeared covered with frightful creeping things, such as serpents, toads, and 
the like. I was filled with astonishment, but retained the full use of my per- 
ception and thoughts. The darkness attained its height, and soon passed 
away. I then perceived a man sitting in the corner of my chamber. As I 
thought myself entirely alone, I was greatly terrified ; when he spoke and 
said, ' Eat not so much.' The cloud once more came over my sight, and when 
it passed away, I found myself alone in the chamber. This unexpected event 
hastened my return home. I did not mention the subject to the people of the 
house, but reflected upon it much, and believed it to have been the effect of 
accidental causes, or to have arisen from my physical state, at the time. I 
went home ; but in the following night, the same man appeared to me again. 
He said, ' I am God, the Lord, the Creator and Reedemer of the world. I have 
chosen thee to lay before men the spiritual sense of the Word. I will teach 
thee what thou art to write.' On that same night, were opened to my per- 
ception the heavens and the hells, where I saw many persons of my acquaint- 
ances, of all conditions. From that day forth, I gave up all mere worldly 
learning, and labored only in spiritual things, according to what the Lord com- 
manded me to write. Daily he opened the eyes of my spirit to see what was 
done in the other world, and gave me, in a state of full wakefulness, to con- 
verse with angels and spirits." From this account the RevieAver would have 
us infer that Swedenborg's brain was disordered by excessive thought attended 
by over indulgence of appetite. But the statement must be accepted as a 
whole or not at all. Though the stranger appeared unexpectedly, the Seer 
declares that he retained the full use of his perception and thoughts : and that 
the first address of the Being was a warning against such indulgence. We 
5 



50 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

are not told that he fell into the same imprudence. A different inference is 
probable, for the stranger re-appeared on the following night and gave him 
his solemn commission, and " from that day forth he gave up all mere worldly 
learning and labored only in spiritual things." 

The Reviewer may have surmised that this of itself would not be regarded 
by all his readers as sufficient proof of insanity, and therefore couples it with 
another incident which he would have them believe was anterior to that just 
related. But let him speak for himself. "While the thoughts of the author 
were occupied in the manner here indicated — while ' with the most intense 
application of mind, he was endeavoring to reach and investigate the soul, 
through the medium of the body,' he was arrested, in the city of London, by a 
severe attack of fever, attended with delirium. The fact of this sickness has 
been called in question ; but not, as it seems to me, with sufficient reason. 
Mr. Wesley speaks of it repeatedly and expressly, but I do not now rely on his 
testimony. The celebrated Dr. Hartley was a cotemporary of Swedenborg, 
his intimate personal friend, and one of his earliest followers. He also speaks 
of Swedenborg's sickness and delirium,and justly complains that what he said 
and did in those circumstances should be reported to his disadvantage. The 
probability is, that this sickness occurred near the close of the year, 1744, or 
early in the following year." " The probability is !"— According to the ethics 
of the Reviewer then, the man's reputation for sanity may be impeached by 
the probability of a date which ought not seriously to affect it, if it could be es- 
tablished. But Pond's whole theory is mainly based on this fact and the al- 
leged time of its occurrence ; and in order to produce the desired impression 
he has deliberately falsified the record ! We say " deliberately," for witnesses and 
references and dates are sometimes dangerous things to those who trifle with 
the truth. Dr. Hartley speaks as follows: "He was seized with a fever, at- 
tended with delirium, common in that case, about twenty years before he died, 
and was under the care of a physician ; and they have gone about to pick up 
what he said and did, and how he looked at the time, and have propagated 
this both in private and in print ; a proceeding so contrary to common hu- 
manity, that one cannot think of it without offence, nay, even horror : but 
there is not the least occasion for a particular answer to so malignant a charge, 
as it receives its full confutation from the consistency and wisdom of his numerous 
publications before and since that time.'' 1 Now this passage is cited in Noble's Ap- 
peal and referred to by Pond in a note. Mr. Noble moreover gives very proba- 
ble reasons for doubting the truth of the story altogether, to which we would 
refer the reader, although the Reviewer has failed to notice them. But he has 
convicted himself. He tells us that Swedenborg lived about twenty-seven years 
from the period of his illumination (p. 21) j and that he died in 1772 (p. 35). 
Dr. H. his chief authority, dates the fever " about twenty years" before his death. 
This would fix it to the year 1752, about eight years after the period assigned by 
the Reviewer. Thus he has antedated an event some eight years in order to find a 
foundation for his hypothesis ! Most becoming conduct in a Puritan, a professor 
of Theology, a preacher of the gospel of Truth, who is moreover an author and 
a polemic, and who would fain be regarded as an honest and honorable 
opponent ! 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 51 

Others have significantly asked, whether in case of a fever attended with 
delirium, it is usual for the former to pass away and the latter remain 1 We 
suppose it was the habit of Swedenborg " to think intensely." With all his 
powers and without intense thought he could not have so astonished his con- 
temporaries ; nor would the fruits of his literary labor have been either in 
quantity or quality what we now find them. But if his brain had been over- 
wrought, the effect should have corresponded with the pretended cause. 
Was it ever before heard of that a man by hard thinking on philosophy went 
mad on Religion f* The insane are prone to harp on the cause of their in- 
sanity. After this period however, Swedenborg spoke and wrote but little on 
philosophy and much on religion, of which, so far as we know, he had said 
but little, and wrote next to nothing before. Dr. P. repeats the account of one 
who knew him — that " "when he appeared abroad his dress and manners were 
those of a gentleman of the old school." And were these very like those of a mad- 
man 1 Thus much for the first lesson on this head. The second will be forth- 
coming anon. 

Swedenborg had laid down the following excellent and comprehensive 
rules for the regulation of his conduct. " 1. Often to read and meditate on the 
Word of the Lord. 2. To submit everything to the will of Divine Providence. 
3. To observe in everything, a propriety of behavior, and always to keep the 
conscience clear. 4. To discharge with fidelity, the functions of my employ- 
ment, and the duties of my office, and to render myself, in all things, useful to 
society." On which the Reviewer remarks, ;; If Swedenborg lived up to these 
rules he must have been (vjhat all history represents him) a moral, useful, and to 
some extent, a religious man." Now we desire the reader especially to bear 
these concessions in mind as we may have occasion to recur to them in the 
course of our progress. Whether Swedenborg was also " a man of prayer" we 
shall inquire in the proper place. Nor is it true that he never went to church. 
In general his spiritual calling occupied him on Sabbath as on other days, but 
he did occasionally attend (though but little edified by the ministrations), lest 
his example should be pleaded by others for their delinquency, who had more 
leisure. He moreover received the Communion on his death-bed from a Lu- 
theran minister. 

Again. Dr. P. says, " A report was circulated, that he renounced his pecu- 
liars claims and opinions, during his last sickness ; but this was not true. So 
far from it, he affirmed, in the most solemn circumstances, and with the great- 
est earnestness. ' Everything that I have written is true. I might have said much 
more, had it been permitted me. After death, you will see all.' After such 
a declaration, whatever other opinion is formed respecting him, it can hardly 
be doubted that he was sincere." To which we will append but a single 
query. If Swedenborg was a " gentleman of the old school," a " learned," " mo- 
ral,*' -religious" and " sincere" man, and your proof of his insanity has utterly 
failed, on what ground do you refuse to accept him as a Messenger of Christ ? 

*" We have sometimes heard Evangelical preachers exhort those who, as they said, were 
spoilt by Philosophy, to betake themselves to the study of the Scriptures as a corrective ; but 
here, the remedy proposed must have confirmed the disease." 



52 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

In the " Preliminary Letter'' of our friend, the possibility of spiritual vision 
and consequent intercourse with the inhabitants of the spiritual world is based 
on considerations drawn from the nature of that world : from the constitution 
of man, and especially from the nature of the human soul : from its connexion 
with the source of life : from its presence in that world, and association (how- 
ever unconscious) with its denizens, simultaneously with its sojourn in the 
body. And then surely that is possible which has actually occurred. Repeated 
instances are given by him from ancient and modern annals, from the sacred 
Scripture, and the history of the Church fortified by the authority of its venerated 
Fathers and most approved writers. It will be acknowledged as desirable hi 
the abstract that an immortal being should have some knowledge of that re- 
gion which is to be its own ultimate and permanent home. We might also 
infer that by the proper exercise of such a gift many doubts and vexed ques- 
tions which have harassed the sincere Christian and disturbed the peace of 
societies might be removed or settled. If there had never been a case of spir- 
itual vision, how came it ever to be believed at all ? Credulity itself must have 
facts as its remote foundation. If this principle of human nature has been 
abused by Pagan priesthood, by Romanists, and fanatics of various type, shall 
it therefore be denied and discarded altogether ? As well reject every sacred 
truth which is capable of being perverted to the purposes of spiritual tyranny 
or selfish ambition. Until then, Dr. P. and his coadjutors shall give us some 
better reason than their proverbial cant of " the age of miracles has ceased,*' &c. 
we shall persist in demanding to know by what authority they would lhnit the 
exertion of this faculty to a particular age. 

Swedenborg asserted that he was permitted for good ends to exercise during 
many years a power inherent in all, but providentially and wisely suspended 
with men in general, as being liable to dangerous and gross abuse. At several 
times during his life his professed power was put to the test by persons who 
disbelieved its possibility, or were incredulous in his case. In no instance 
was he found wanting. They were first reported — not by himself or followers 
— but by others who did not admit his pretensions ; courtiers, literati, professors 
of philosophy, men in various walks of active life. Their truth could not be 
gainsayed. In one case, an event is declared as actually taking place at a 
distance of three hundred miles, and his declaration known to a whole city 
before the description is verified in every particular by subsequent intelligence. 
The accounts of these remarkable occurrences are collected by his followers 
from their different sources with the testimonials by which they are avouched 
and for what? as authenticated miracles 1 : No. As proof of the truth of his 
doctrines 1 Again, no ! their positive truth depends on other considerations ; 
but as evidence that he possessed a gift, the same in kind with that he claimed in his 
writings, and which, if duly exercised for a sufficient length of time, would have fur- 
nished him with the materials for all the memorable relations recorded in his works. 
This Reviewer however thinks these " stories" are not more remarkable than 
the accounts of ''clairvoyants," :: soothsayers." &c. which are so common at 
the present day and some of which he relates himself. Thus he tells us of a 
dealer in marvels who was :t affrighted'' at his own success, and "relinquished 
it in sorrow and disgust :" of another who, although deranged and confined, 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 53 

told wonders. And can Dr. P. account for these things by his own philoso- 
phy ? To multiply mysteries is not to solve them. Did those men set up as 
religious teachers \ And if they had. did he ever learn that Swedenborg was 
u affrighted" by his experience or that he abandoned his pursuit. Now. even 
if the Scripture had not already given us a test for distinguishing the veritable 
seer from a false prophet, several of the books in his list might have satisfied 
him that there was a wide difference between Swedenborg and any - : clair- 
voyant." And. be it remembered. " all history" attests that he was 
adventurer, but -a gentleman." and moreover -moral, religious and sincere." 
Verily our Professor must have been in sad straits at this juncture. Because 
such things are " unaccountable" to him. he thinks they must be equally so to 
others : and seeks to convict New Churchmen of inconsistency in their at- 
tempts to explain Swedenborg's state while in the spirit. " Mr. Hobart th ink s. 
• that Swedenborg can in no wise be compared with the ancient, prophets.' 
Mr. Noble and Mr. Bush hold, that ; the psychological condition of the pro- 
phets was substantially the same as his. While Dr. Hartley decides, that l he 
was endued with heavenly gifts, beyond any of the prophets that preceded him.' If 
the receivers of his doctrines cannot settle this question among themselves. I 
shall not now undertake to decide it for them." "Whatever mystery may have 
formerly attended such cases, it need exist no longer. The general tenor of 
his psychology and numerous passages of bis writings bearing on this very 
point, as known to his followers, have removed it finally and for ever. Nor is 
there any contradiction here, although there is room for difference of opinion 
as to the relative importance of their different functions. Swedenborg's state 
was I ike thai of the prophets, in that the spiritual sight of both was opened. It 
differed in that they were either the rapt unconscious organs of the divine influx, 
or the simple mediums of announcing or writing " the Word of God." Sweden- 
borg's rational mind was illuminated by the Lord as a spiritual Sun to perceive 
the true meaning of what the Prophets and Evangelists had written, and which 
was not fully known to them. But while he had a conscious perception of the 
source of his illumination, he was measurably left to the use or his own pow- 
ers of explanation, disciplined and furnished as they had been by previous 
training and knowledge. Some may think it a greater privilege to be the in- 
struments of recording the Word of God : others may more highly esteem the 
gift of understanding and explaining it to mankind. We defer our remarks on 
the Reviewer's extracts from our Author's treatise on the -Earths in the Uni- 
verse" which - he knew not where else could be introduced so "well" as rn his 
first chapter, until we come to consider the matter of Swedenborg's Revelations 
concerning the spiritual world. As some prehminary explanations was ne- 
o their being properly understood, it is not the Reviewer's fault if the 
readers to whom he professed especially to address himself should 
not have their prejudices thus early confirmed and thence view with suspicion 
all that followed. 

In his second chapter he has copied entire the lesser •• creed" offered by 
denborg as containing the essence of Christian doctrine ; as also the - twelve 
Articles" set forth by the New Church in England and adopted by their breth- 
ren in America as embracing a more enlarged summary of our faith. It must 



54 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

be owned that this instance of fairness, so strongly contrasting with the great- 
er part of the book, was not observed by us without our special wonder. We 
thank him moreover for the same, as it will aid us in refuting the captious 
cavils by which here and elsewhere he has endeavored to throw dust into the 
eyes of the reader. But this also Ave must postpone until his more particular 
objections to the doctrines shall pass under review, and pass at once to his 
" Objections to the Claims of Swedenborg." 



CHAPTER III. 

DR. POND'S OBJECTIONS TO THE CLAIMS OF SWEDENBORG CONSIDERED. THE 

ARGUMENT FROM MIRACLES WEIGHED. 

M In deciding upon the claims and the doctrines of Swedenborg, I agree with 
Professor Bush, that the first and principal question relates to the fact of his 
supernatural illumination. Did he actually converse with spirits and angels 1 
Was he immediately instructed by the Lord himself % Did he, in fact, receive 
revelations from heaven % If so, then whatever he taught must have been 
worthy of its Author, Divinely true, and is to be regarded as the voice of God 
to men. There is no resisting this conclusion, and we have no desire to resist 
it. But then there is another conclusion, equally resistless, and most intimately 
comiected with it. If it can be shown that Swedenborg taught much that is 
unworthy of God, untrue, not in accordance with reason, Scripture and fact ; 
then he could not have received his instructions from the Lord, and his credit 
as a supernatural teacher, a revealer of heavenly things, is destroyed." Be it 
so — we accept the wager, and await the proofs. We do more — we retort the 
charge ; and if we do not prove his own doctrine to be unworthy of God and 
abhorrent to the reason and moral instincts of man we will consent to yield 
the question. 

His first objection to " Swedenborgianism" is that " it professes to supersede the 
Gospel Dispensation, and to introduce a new dispensation, as distinct from it, 
and superior to it, as that is superior to the Jewish;" and asks for "proof of 
the same from the literal sense of the Word." From the boldness of this de- 
mand, the reader to whom the subject is novel might suppose that it had never 
been met. Yet proof sufficient may be found in the predictions of the old 
Proj)hets which have not been and are not like to be fulfilled by the first Chris- 
tian Church without an entire change of its doctrines and spirit : and lies on 
the surface of the New Testament, where the decline of this Church and the 
necessity of its being succeeded by another are expressly foretold. This evi- 
dence is collected by Swedenborg and is expounded in various parts of his 
writings, and forms the subject of a separate chapter in his chief doctrinal 
work "The True Christian Religion." It is also the subject of Sec. II. of No- 
ble's Appeal ; and portions of it are frequently cited in other works of the 
Church. Our Reviewer however with his usual courage and honesty passes it 
over. Our space will not permit us to quote the whole of the evidence ; but, 



eR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 55 

after having premised a few explanatory reflections, we will produce enough 
to show that we are not without warrant for the assertion. 

The earth was created that it might become the perpetual Seminary of 
Heaven. The term •' Church" as used in Scripture is of various signification. 
Tie Church in general includes all those in time past, present and to come 
who acknowledge one God and obey his commands. In this sense and in the 
view of the Lord the Church is one. But within this general body are included 
various successive and particular churches, as the Primitive or most Ancient, 
the Patriarchal, the Jewish, the Christian. And why 1 The essential princi- 
ples which constitute a man are Freedom and Reason. Without either of 
these he would not be a responsible being and could not make a church at all ; 
for the Father of all desires only a reasonable and voluntary service. But 
With them man cannot be a stationary being] for when properly used they ele- 
vate the character and lead to higher attainments, but they are also, and of 
necessity, liable to abuse. Man then, both as an individual and as a whole 
must be either a progressive or degenerating being. Unhappily, the past history 
of our race proves that he has too often and too generally taken the down- 
ward road, and that if his Understanding has been gradually raised, his Will 
has not always followed in a corresponding degree. But lest he should alto- 
gether defe%t the ends of his creation, by first repudiating and then forgetting 
the knowledge which was essential thereto, instruction suited to his various 
states has been successfully provided by Infinite Wisdom and Goodness. 
When he M walked with his God" in innocence and simple obedience the truth 
was impressed on his mind by a sensible internal dictate, or he read it in out- 
ward Nature, whose expressive characters were then understood. Such was 
the Church of the primitive ages. When he began to "lean unto his own un- 
derstanding" and thereby had forfeited his early privilege as no longer suited 
to such presumption, the knowledge necessary to his reform was committed 
to writing, but in that parabolic style which was the spontaneous and vernacu- 
lar tongue of his ancestors ; and such were the sacred books of the Patriarchal 
times. But by dwelling too much on outward objects or stopping short at 
second causes, the primitive faith was farther corrupted and man fell into 
idolatry. To preserve that doctrine which is at the foundation of all true re- 
ligion — the doctrine of the Unity of the Deity — a particular family was set 
apart: afterwards expanded into a nation and furnished with a peculiar polity 
and separate territory : its history as a people and a state recorded by divine 
dictation ; which history with its accompanying documents should contain 
within itself instruction that, when duly explained, would be adapted to all 
succeeding time, and the various races of men. The truth was thus put in an 
imperishable form and preserved through many vicissitudes. Thus as the 
second had been a Representative Church before it degenerated, the Jewish was 
the Representative of a Church. And this it might very well be without un- 
derstanding the purport either of what they repeated or what they enacted. 
That they did not understand it, is evident from the fact that when their Church 
came to an end by the Incarnation, they had not only become apostate as a 
nation, but ' : had made the word of God of none effect through their traditions. 1 ' 

Our Incarnate Lord gathered his disciples and gave them instruction. But did 



56 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

they fully apprehend his meaning'? Far otherwise, they often stumbled at his 
" hard sayings," and he as often reproved them for "not understanding his word/' 
At length he tells them, " I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear 
them now. . . The time will come when I will shew you plainly of the Father" (John 
xvi. 12, 25) . Is there any mention in Scripture that that time had arrived ? "Je- 
hovah shall be King over all the earth : in that day Jehovah shall be one, and 
his name One," says the prophet Zechariah (xiv. 9). Has that day arrived as 
yet, or is it likely to arrive under the auspices of the Christians now in the 
ascendant ? The church of Christ was founded : it was provided that a part 
of his words and acts should be recorded for her use : and he exhibited to the 
prophetic vision of his beloved disciple the future fortunes of that church . 
Though a commencement was made and proper means employed to reform 
the religious aspect of the world, a change so great could not be immediately 
effected. Ages would probably elapse before man would retrace the steps 
which had led him to his present abyss of degradation. And it is because man 
is free that moral and religious revolutions, if for the better, must needs be 
gradual. 

When our Lord, on their referring him to the magnificence of the Jewish 
Temple, announced to his astonished disciples that " the time would come 
when not one stone would be left upon another" (Matt, xxiv.), What did he 
mean ? Shall we answer with one school of interpreters that " he simply al- 
luded to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus ?" That cannot be, as is proved 
by his subsequent discourse on the Mount of Olives, in which he declares that 
the dread events and appearances there enumerated shall be followed by the 
consummation of the age and his own second coming. And that the disciples were 
deceived both as regards the nature and time of his " second coming" is now 
generally acknowledged. Shall we follow the guidance of another class who 
say that in that discourse he refers to the final Judgment and " destruction of 
the world ?" And these also are at fault ; for, besides that the perpetual du- 
ration of the earth is elsewhere clearly taught, our Lord speaks of some who 
"in that day shall be taken and others left" (verses 40, 41). What could he 
have designed to teach but the decline and consummation of the Church he 
was then about to found % Its degeneracy was also foretold by Paul and Peter, 
Jude and John (Acts xx. 29 ; 2 Thess. ii. 3, 56; 2 Tim. iv. 1, 2; 2 Pet. ii. 1, 
30 j Jude 17, 18 ; 1 John iv. 3) : is noticed as having already appeared in va- 
rious phases, in the early chapters of Revelations : is traced on that prophetic 
page through its several gradations to the final usurpations and corruptions of 
the modern Babylon, and the opposite though equal errors of the Protestants t 
until the view is relieved by a brighter prospect beyond. For John at length 
" saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and the first earth 
were passed away ; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy 
city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a 
bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven say- 
ing, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, 
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their 
God. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. 
And he said unto me, Write : for these words are true and faithful." 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 57 

Isaiah had predicted (lxv. 17) that " new heavens and a new earth" would 
be formed on the coining of Messiah. As this language was not literally ful- 
filled then, we need not expect it at his second coming. But the prophetic 
style is beginning to be better understood than formerly ; and we could call 
evangelical authority to back us, when we say that these words denote im- 
portant revolutions in religion and in faith. Every body knows that by " Jeru- 
salem" in Scripture is meant " the Church.' 1 '' Of course the New Jerusalem means 
a new Church. And that this does not refer to the church in the heavens, may 
be inferred from the fact that this Church was seen " coming down from God 
out of Heaven ; . . the tabernacle of God with men ; . . and that all 
things should be made new." To say with this Reviewer that the passages he 
quotes from the prophets refer to the first Christian Church is begging the ques- 
tion. Swedenborg, as we think, has shown good reason for applying them to the 
New Christian Church which is here specially foretold, and which will be the 
"enlarged, purified and exalted" body of which they speak. It thus appears 
that we have the literal authority of Scripture for our assertion. That the 
degeneracy and final ruin of the first Christian Church might have been an- 
ticipated from the then state of human nature, and that farther Revelations 
would have been ultimately required even if it had continued faithful, and still 
more to repair the ravages produced by her apostacy, we propose to show 
hereafter. 

The second objection to the claims of Swedenborg herein urged, is, that they 
are " not sufficiently attested." Revelations worthy of our acceptance, he 
thinks, (1.) Should be confirmed by " two or three witnesses :" (2.) Must be con- 
sistent with themselves and)involve no absurdities: (3.) The testimony offered, 
if false, should be open to detection : (4.) Must be confirmed and not contra- 
dicted by other evidence : (5.) Should be supported by miracles. 

It will be time enough to consider the second and fourth tests when it is 
proved that the revelations of Swedenborg fail to abide them. The Reviewer 
has certainly attempted this feat, but his wretched failure will appear ere long. 
So first we demand to know by what authority he determines that alleged 
Revelations should always be attested by " two or three witnesses at least ??' 
Certainly not that of Scripture. The text cited in proof is wholly inapplicable. 
It was a rule of Jewish Criminal Law, enjoined also by our Lord in case of dis- 
putes among brethren, and by the Apostles in the discipline of offenders (See Num. 
xxxv. 20; Deut. xvii. 6; xix 15; Matt, xviii. 16; Heb. x. 28; 2 Cor. xiii. 
1 ; 1 Tim. v. 19), and has nothing to do with the credibility of a Revelation. 
Much the greater number of divine or angelic manifestations recorded in 
Scripture were made to but one person at a time — though not for his benefit 
alone. Which of the seventeen prophets whose writings constitute so large a 
part of the Old Testament ever called upon another as a witness to the truth 
of his Revelations ? Some of them were contemporaries, and if Dr. P.'s rule 
was then binding, their reports should have been delivered by them jointly. 
And if they had would it not have been said by those to whom the message 
was obnoxious, to be the result of collusion ? When one of them " went to 
inquire of the Lord" was it his habit to take a witness along with him. The 
effects of the divine afflatus on the man of God, while in operation, might 



58 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

sometimes have been apparent to others present, but the things seen and 
heard were perceived by him alone. 

This very obvious objection seems to have occurred to the Reviewer who 
says very quietly in a note, " Divine testimony is one thing, human testimony 
another." But how did they know that what the prophet told them was of 
God 1 His annunciations, it is true were generally prefaced with a " Thus saith 
the Lord," but this was his own naked unsupported assertion. The writer of 
the Apocalypse professed to converse with angels, and while in the spirit to 
have seen things in heaven and elsewhere. " But suppose he uttered a false 
testimony how is he to be detected P " Who shall follow him into the other 
world to disprove him V> " It would be more satisfactory if he could either bring 
other witnesses — or else relate ' stories' which if false could be easily detected !" 
To all which the querist naively adds, " manifestly no one could follow him, un- 
til he finally pass into that world." As if this were not a sufficient reason for 
making one credible witness the channel of such communications. Any other 
rule would open the door to unlimited skepticism, even if it did not impair the 
dignity of Revelation. 

We desire not to be misunderstood. Far be it from us to place the works 
of Swedenborg on a level with the Word of God in point of sanctity. We de- 
signed only to show that a principle pretended to be deduced therefrom was 
an arbitrary rule of the Reviewer, and that all the precedents of Scripture are 
in our favor. He who inhabiteth eternity, to whom a thousand years are but 
as one day, may call a succession of individuals through different ages to re- 
cord portions of his Word. When completed for the benefit of perpetual 
generations, its entire purport may for a time be unknown. Centuries later, a 
faithful servant who had been prepared therefor from his youth upwards, 
may have his mind illuminated rationally to perceive the harmony and the 
deeper meaning of what was already written and which has escaped all pre- 
ceding observers, and commit the same to the press for the benefit of posterity. 
Such is the pretension ot Swedenborg, and in judging its validity before the 
tribunal of reason, is internal evidence to go for nothing ? Should we not 
consider the tendency of his writings to increase knowledge, to honor God and 
benefit mankind — to say nothing of the recognized character of the Expounder f 
u But Swedenborg wrought no miracles." Neither was it necessary or proper 
that he should. They were not suited to his age. Nor, if they had been 
granted would they have had the desired effect. They were employed in 
ancient times and in the case of such a people as the Jews, who could not other- 
wise be made to submit to the guidance of their leaders in pursuing their true 
interest ; and they were occasionally used as a desperate remedy to prevent 
their sinking into idolatry, to which they were so long prone. The superficial 
and temporary impression produced by them is notorious to every reader of the 
Bible. The repeated miracles of Moses did not convince Pharaoh. In permitting 
the departure of the Israelites he yielded to the force of terror and calamity, 
and as soon as their pressure was removed he pursued the fugitives in order 
to enforce their return. The divided sea, the constant miracles of the cloudy 
pillar, the manna, the stream in the desert did not prevent their frequent mur- 
murs against their leader ; and in the sight and hearing of the fire and thunders 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 59 

of Sinai, with the preceding incidents fresh in their recollection, they fell to the 
adoration of a golden calf; nay one of the chief agents in their performance 
united in the senseless and degrading homage. Their whole government and 
preservation as a separate state was a perpetual miracle, but was their faith 
thereby kept in its purity % 

Did the miracles of Jesus convince them that he was their Messiah 2 They 
terrified some (Matt. viii. 34) : excited the sensual and worldly hopes of oth- 
ers (John vi. 15, 26, 66) : offended their superstition when wrought on the 
Sabbath day (Luke xiii. 14; John v. 16-18): exasperated the Pharisees who 
ascribed them to an infernal influence and made them the occasion of conspiring 
against his life (Matt. xii. 14, 24; John xi. 45, 57) : and the veiy multitude 
•who had witnessed and been momentarily persuaded by them, afterwards 
united in the cry for his crucifixion (John ii. 23, 24; xii. 37; Luke xxii. 54; 
xxiii. 1, 2, 18, 21 ; Matt. xiii. 13, 38). Mcodemus himself who gave this pre- 
tended reason for accepting Jesus as his Teacher, is offended when he hears 
something which shocks his prejudices (John iii. 2, 11) ; and the experience 
of the Apostles was at times the same (Acts xiv. 8-18). Most of the ancient 
prophets wrought no miracles that we know of, yet were their several mes- 
sages incorporated into the Divine Word long before their fulfilment. John 
the Baptist " than whom a greater has not arisen among men" " wrought no 
miracles," "but all that he said of Jesus was true" (Matt. xi. 9, 11 ; John x. 
41, 42). God Incarnate indeed wrought many, but often commanded the sub- 
ject of them to keep them secret (Matt. viii. 4; ix. 30; xii. 16; xvii. 9; Mark 
v. 43; Luke v. 14). The national propensity to seek for this lower species 
of evidence is frequently reproved (John iv. 48 ; Matt. xvi. 4 ; Mark viii. 12 ; 
John x : 38 ; xiv : 11 ; 1 Cor. i. 22) : he required to be believed on his own 
word — which was "spirit and life" — to which some yielded (John v. 24; xii. 
48 ; viii. 30 ; iv. 41 ; vi. 63, 64) : commended them to their own Scriptures 
and a good life as evidence of his claims (Isa. viii. 20 ; John v. 39, 46 ; vii. 
17; xiv. 12): declares that no miracle would avail where these tests were 
refused (Luke xvi. 31) : and bestows his blessing on those -who did not re- 
quire ocular demonstration in order to their assent (John xx. 29). 

And do miracles always proceed from a Divine influence % The magicians 
of Egypt counterfeited those of Moses : the Jews in their law were warned 
against those of false prophets, and the early Christians against those of false 
Messiahs. When the degeneracy of the Christian Church was predicted by 
the Savior, as afterwards by Paul and John, "signs" and "lying wonders" are 
given as a special mark of her seducers (Deut. xiii. 1-3 ; Matt. xxiv. 24 ; 
2 Thess. ii. 9; Rev. xiii. 13, 14; xvi. 14). Though the Apostles and early 
Christians performed genuine miracles for beneficent ends, yet they too en- 
countered the false — as in the case of Simon Magus and others — and who has 
not heard of the never-ending, still-beginning frauds and deceptions of the 
Church of Rome in this very kind, served up until even the Ostrich-stomachs 
of her subjects revolted at the imposition. 

If miracles then be an indispensible preliminary to faith, how are we to ac- 
count for these extraordinary facts in opposition 1 " The exceptions would 
prove the rule" by a new method, being infinitely more frequent than' the ope- 



60 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

ration of the rule itself. And were these things unknown to Dr. P. % Verily, 
No ! — if he has read the books included in his list. Two of these, " Hindmarsh's 
Letters to Priestley" and " Noble's Appeal," contain dissertations on this subject, 
which well nigh exhaust the scriptural argument, as well as the other con- 
siderations which have a bearing on it • yet are they not noticed by the Re- 
viewer. He had " pondered" them so deeply perhaps, as to be " satisfied" that 
their refutation was reserved for some other than himself, and contents himself 
with such twaddle as the following. 

" A proper miracle is always the work of God" — but can every one distin- 
guish a " proper miracle" ? (Matt. xxiv. 24) — " a work which no being besides 
himself can perform. . . . his unmistakeable witness to the divine mission 
of those who perform them." What, when the magicians did the same with their 
enchantments ! (Ex. vii. 22.) " No good reason can be assigned why his revealed 
word should be miraculously attested in the first century after Christ, and not 
in the eighteenth." The progress of Reason then, and the possession of God's 
word for eighteen centuries, has done nothing towards enabling us to judge 
of a proposed interpretation of its contents. " Most happy had it been for this 
world of ours — delivering it from enormous masses of superstition and corrup- 
tion — had the right to demand miracles been constantly insisted on." A con- 
venient device truly for dispensing with the necessity of thought — and a rare 
short method of settling disputes, as Rome very well knows ! Then he plain- 
tively alludes to Montanus, and Manes, and Mahomet. But would the first have 
assumed the character of comforter, if Christians had not been conscious that 
something was wanting to complete their dispensation ? Or could the last have 
so successfully invaded the territory of Christendom, if the corruptions in faith 
and life of its nominal supporters had not already prepared the way for him ? 
The cut at the second is rather unkind, seeing some of his chief peculiarities 
are supposed by many to be embraced in the Calvinistic creed. Then we 
have the stereotyped slang about Behmen and Joanna Southcott, &c. "And 
though Emanuel Swedenborg was incomparably superior (vastly civil !) to 
most of them" ..." his reasons for not giving miracles are unfounded 
and self -contradictory:' 1 " For first he says they force," and then gives " the oppo- 
site objection of inefficiency /" Now most persons would suppose that " force" 
exerted on the mind of a. free agent must necessarily be superficial in its influence. 
Miracles do force, and may be attended with a present effect ; but that effect 
unless followed up by something else, must needs be transient and therefore 
" inefficient." None but a rational or voluntary faith can be permanent. " To 
credit ordinary and visible objects," says Sir Thomas Browne, " is not faith but 
persuasion. I am thankful that I lived not in the days of miracles, then had 
my faith been thrust upon me, nor should I enjoy that greater blessing promised 
to all that believe and see not." And Andrew Marvell — a Puritan — says with 
equal good sense that " nothing can be more clearly deduced from Scripture, 
nothing more fully expressed in Scripture, nothing more suitable to natural 
reason than that no man should be forced to believe ; for no man can be forced 
to believe : you may force a man to say this or that, but not to believe it." — 
Naked Truth, p. 2. 

But who told Dr. Pond that Paul was converted by a miracle ? Again we 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 61 

say. not the Scripture. Paul was already a religious man after the manner of 
his fathers — a devout and rigid Jew. The sudden and unexpected appearance 
of him whom he had thought to be a deceiver, and the report of whose Re- 
surrection he believed to be a fable, astounded and overthrew him, and was 
the occasion of bringing him to his reflection. He yielded to the force of that 
irrefragable argument — the actual sight of him whom he supposed to be dead. 
He was naturally impetuous in his character, quick in reading his conclusions, 
and zealous in carrying them into execution, and his after life was in harmony 
with this theory. He merely exchanged one religion for another — from a Jew, 
in three days becoming a Christian. But though quickly it was voluntarily 
done, and he often alludes to the reason afterwards as in 1 Cor. ix. 1 ; xv. 4-8. 
If the Lord chooses to manifest himself to any of his servants for an important 
end, it is not properly a miracle. He appeared to his disciples repeatedly 
after his Resurrection — to five hundred brethren at once — to Peter, to Paul, to 
John, and in these latter days, as we believe, to Swedenborg himself. But 
as all such cases of " spiritual vision" are orderly and explicable when they 
do take place, " miraculous" is not the term by which to characterise them. 

We are fully aware of the history of opinion on this subject. We know the 
figure which this topic cuts in the old books on the " Evidences" of Christian- 
ity, and that it is not yet reduced to its proper dimensions. We are conscious 
that the prejudice we are opposing, is the growth of ages. But it was the 
product of ages of darkness, when on most points the primitive faith had been 
lost sight of, and absurd mysteries and contradictory and irrational dogmas 
substituted therefor. In no other way could such a faith be defended and the 
Christian champion might then be excused for using it as a shield, when he 
knew of no better. But times are changed and other weapons are now re- 
quired, and we are happy to know that there always have been some who 
estimated this one at true worth. To which we add that opinion among 
more intelligent theologians is changing so rapidly that the common idea 
must ere long be placed in the catalogue of vulgar errors. If the sacred ora- 
cles were duly studied and regarded, their annunciations, as repeated above, 
would first exhibit and ultimately correct the prevailing fallacy. But as 
some minds are more readily influenced by authority than by reason or Scrip- 
ture, it may be as well to show that Swedenborg is not alone in his views, 
but that he is sustained by the suffrages of writers justly esteemed for their 
piety or learning, or correct judgment. There have been genuine miracles, 
but their true character has been little understood by Christians. What then 
is a miracle 1 "They are not," says Douglas, " philosophically speaking, vio- 
lations of the laws of nature. The miracles of the Bible, so far from being such 
are as natural as the lifting up a stone from the ground, or impelling a vessel 
along the waves by the stroke of an oar. None would call it a violation of 
the laws of nature when human agents set a body in motion which was pre- 
viously at rest, and which would have remained at rest without their inter- 
ference ; still less can it be called a violation of the laws of nature when the 
Divine agent, who is the Lawgiver of nature, impresses an additional force upon 
creation, and gives a new direction to its movements* Bishop Watson says, 

* Errors in Religion, p. vi. 



62 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

" The laws of nature are different to different men according to the diversities 
of their comprehension and knowledge ;" and that in case of a miracle " a 
known law may be only suspended or have its action overruled by others more 
general though less known."* So also Carlyle : " To that Dutch king of Siam, 
an icicle had been a miracle ; and whoso had carried with him an airpump 
and phial of vitriolic ether had worked a miracle. ... To me perhaps the 
raising of one from the dead were no violation of the laws of nature but a 
confirmation ; were some far deeper law, now first penetrated into, and by spirit- 
ual force, even as the rest have all been brought to bear on us with material 
force."f DeWette in his " Theodore" J speaks to the same purpose; and his 
Translator tells us that "the view which has prevailed among us, is not received 
by any of the enlightened theologians of Germany at the present time among the super- 
naturalists. They speak of miracles as being above nature but not opposed 
to nature." Hahn\\ says, that "the opinion is neither taught in Scripture nor 

conceivable in itself and that according to that view, every miracle 

supposes another, to restore again the order of things which has been inter- 
rupted." "^Reason," says Locke, § "must be the judge what is a miracle and 
what not ; which not knowing how far the power of natural causes may ex- 
tend themselves, and what strange effects they may produce, is very hard to 
determine." It thus appears that even the spirit of certain Evangelical writers 
on this subject is becoming more liberal — and Dr. P. himself from his cautious 
phrases of " God's being wont to interpose by his almighty power ; arrest in 
some way the regular movements of nature" — would seem to be aware of the 
change. 

But are miracles the best proof of the truth of a Revelation ? And here too 
we could call up a cloud of witnesses in the negative. Says Coleridge : "It 
was only to overthrow the usu^ation exercised in and through the senses 
that the senses were miraculously appealed to. Reason and Religion are 
their own evidence. . . . The principles revealed and the examples recorded 
in Scripture render miracles superfluous.'''' And this opinion he could defend by a 
series of passages to the same effect, from the Fathers and the most eminent Protestant 
Divines from the Reformation to the Revolution."^ " Miracles serve only to ex- 
cite attention ; they cannot, by themselves, prove the truth and goodness of 
what he who performs them teaches. They have a reference, too, to human 
ignorance and weakness, and would not serve for every degree of culture."** — 
" Here too may some inquire, not without astonishment, On what ground shall 
one that can make iron swim, come and declare that, therefore, he can teach religion ? 
To us, truly, of the nineteenth century, such declaration were inapt enough ; 
which nevertheless, to our fathers, of the first century, was full of meaning."! f 
— And let us hear Bishop Taylor — " Although the argument drawn from mira- 
cles is good to attest a holy doctrine, which by its own worth will support itself, 
after way is little made by miracles ; yet of itself, and by its own reputation, it 
will not support any fabric; for instead of proving a doctrine to be true, it makes 

* Third Letter to Gibbon. f Sartor Resartus, B. III. Ch. 8. 

% B. II. Ch. 4. || Ibid. Note H. 

§ Apud. Ed. Rev. No. 99, p. 11. If Biog. Lit. II. 192. 

** Theodore, B. I. chap. 8. ft Sartor Resartus, B. III. ch. 8. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 63 

that the miracles themselves are suspected to be illusions, if they be pretended 
in behalf of a doctrine which we think we have reason to account false."* — 
" Many obstacles to the efficacy of miracles," says another, " might proceed 
from the natural frailty of men, the hurry of passions, the blindness of preju- 
dice, the errors of a presumptuous philosophy which raises disputes on every- 
thing, and strives to draw everything within its narrow perspective 

Neither the most striking miracles nor the most splendid wonders of nature 
can fix man invariably in the right way. Everything depends on the dispo- 
sitions of those who are witnesses to them. Whilst some of a just way of 
thinking, acknowledge in one as well as in the other, the power of the Al- 
mighty, and the evident traces of His "wisdom and goodness, how many others, 
of a perverse and presumptuous cast, will see nothing in them but juggling 
and deceit, blind chance, or necessary combinations ! and, as they say, will be 
more sure of their arguments than of their eyes! How many other heavy, thought- 
less creatures, slaves of habit and passion look on them with a stupid indiffer- 
ence only, without drawing any conclusions from them for the regulation of 
their lives ; or else contradict every day, in their conduct, the consequences 

they had drawn Neither miracles nor the prodigies of nature captivate the 

will. And he that has wrought them or seen them wrought ceases not on 
that account to be a man, that is a weak sinful being. For God can communi- 
cate his povjer to men without depriving them of their frailty. ,"f The late Dr. Arnold 
writes thus to a friend : " It has always seemed to me that the substance of a 
revelation is a most essential part of its evidence; and that miracles wrought in favor 
of what is foolish or wicked, would only prove manicheism. We are so perfectly 
ignorant of the unseen world, that the character of any supernatural power 
can be only judged of by the moral character of the statements which it sanc- 
tions : thus only can we tell whether it be a revelation from God, or from the 
Devil. If his father tells a child something which seems to him monstrous, 
faith requires him to submit his own judgment, because he knows his father's . 
person, and is sure, therefore, that his father tells it him. But we cannot thus 
know God. and can only recognize His voice by the words spoken being in 
agreement with our idea of His moral nature." J Again. " Is it possible to deny 
that the individuals, the churches, and the times which appear to have been 
left without miracles, have displayed other and even more unquestionable signs 
of God's presence among them ; signs which have not always existed with peculiar 
brightness where miracles are alleged to have most abounded." || Luther^ him- 
self says, " No miracle or sign is to be received in opposition to sound doctrine;" and 
therefore Locke may be forgiven when he remarks, that " even in those books 
which have the greatest proof of revelation from God, and the attestation of 
miracles to confirm their being so, the miracles are to be judged by the doc- 
trine and not the doctrine byjthe miracles. (Deut. xiii. 1.)" And Paul says, "If 
an angel from heaven shall teach any other doctrine," &c.fl And the sentiment 

* Lib. of Proph. Sec. XI. f Jew's Letters to Voltaire, Vol. I. Let. 6. % Life, 389. 

|| Lectures on Mod. Hist. Sec. II. § Apud Note H. to Theodore, where the reader will 
find many other orthodox German authorities to the same effect. 

<T Ed. Rev. as above. See also Brougham's Nat. Theol. p. 126; Bp. Horsley, Serm. xxiv. 
p. 339; Le Bas on Miracles, p. 53; Goddard's Bampton Lectures ; Penrose on Miracles. 



64 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

is thus re-echoed by another of the noblest philosophers of England. " The 
very end of the gospel proves its truth. And that, which to the vulgar is only 
knowable by miracles, and teachable by positive precepts and commands, to 
the wise and virtuous, is demonstrable by the nature of the thing. So that 
how can we forbear to give our assent to those doctrines and that revelation 
which is delivered to us and enforced by miracles and wonders ? But to us, 
the very test and proof of the divineness and truth of that revelation, is from the excel- 
lence of the things revealed : otherwise the wonders themselves would have little 
effect or power : nor could they be thoroughly depended on, were we even as 
near to them as when they were freshly wrought, and strong in the memory of 
men. This is what alone can justify our easiness of faith ; and in this respect 

WE CAN NEVER BE TOO RESIGNED, TOO WILLING, OR TOO COMPLAISANT." 

We might greatly increase this array of authorities, but surely we have ad- 
duced enough to prove that miracles (which, etymologically, are only some- 
thing to be wondered at) are not lawless proceedings, but the operation of laws 
higher than any known to the beholders ; that they are suited only to the stupid, 
the obstinate, or the credulous ; that they could add no weight to a true reve- 
lation in the nineteenth century, and were therefore unsuited to the character 
of Swedenborg. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DR. POND'S UNFAIRNESS IN HIS MODE OF DEALING WITH THE DOCTRINES OF SWEDEN- 
BORG. THESE DOCTRINES PARTICULARLY CONSIDERED IN CONTRAST WITH THOSE 

HELD BY DR. POND AND HIS SCHOOL. 

When a book which purports to be a review of a particular system of The- 
ology, is put forth with the avowed purpose of aiding the public in the judg- 
ment to be formed of its merits, what is it that should receive the principal 
share of the critic's attention % Should we not reasonably expect that it would 
be the doctrines which constitute that system % If this be the dictate of justice 
with regard to any other, however long established and generally recognized, 
is it not especially demanded in the case of one which is probably new to 
most of his readers % The New Church has a system of doctrine, well digested, 
clearly defined, which claims to be based on Scripture and sanctioned by 
Reason. It was this which first drew the attention of its members generally. 
Until this had been properly tested, Swedenborg's revelations of the Spiritual 
Sense of the Scripture and of the nature of the other life, received but little of 
their regard. When the first had won their assent, they found nothing unin- 
telligible in the second, nor unnatural or improbable in the third. Nor was 
theirs a blind or hasty faith. The system is plainly set forth and fully expounded 
in various works of Swedenborg entirely devoted to that purpose. Its several 
parts and especially those which have been most generally questioned have 
been elaborately discussed in the volumes of apologists which are ac- 
cessible to all the world. The creeds and articles of other churches must also 
and necessarily pass in review before their final choice. This system then 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 65 

they have deliberately adopted ; on its truth and their obedience to its dictates 
they rest their hopes of salvation. If this were really a sandy foundation, a 
friendly critic would lay it bare in that " spirit of love" which is pretended by 
this writer. Or if he chose to come in hostile mood, this should be the primary 
object of assault with an open and fair opponent. Let him attack the citadel. 
If he can carry and overthrow that, its connexions and dependencies must 
yield of course. 

A slight perusal of the book before us or a glance at its table of contents will 
serve to show how far our critic has departed from this honorable mode of 
procedure. It is neither just in its proportions nor arrangement. It requires 
no great sagacity to conjecture his motive for giving other subjects so much 
prominence while that of doctrine is thrown in the background. We choose 
to follow a more natural order ourselves. And though we find little or nothing 
on this head which can properly be called argument, we will notice, however 
briefly, what he designed to pass as such. 

Thus after copying our Articles of Faith in his 2d Chapter, he appends to 
each some trite remark or stale objection which could only excite a smile in 
one who was versed in the system. In Chap. V. he returns to the subject and 
urges as his " fourth objection to the claims of Swedenborg" that he "discards 
much important scriptural truth, and inculcates, on many points, essential er- 
ror." He then enumerates some dozen or more heads of doctrine — on which 
he gives with more or less fairness a statement of Swedenborg's view — and 
proves it heretical somewhat after the following manner. (And really there is 
something so cool and systematic in this method which pervades the entire 
book, that we thought it would not be a waste of time to look along the pages 
and gather a few instances of its exemplification ; but in truth they were so fre- 
quent that we gave over in despair.) The reader will take these few as speci- 
mens. " Swedenborg denies the Christian doctrine of the Trinity" (p. 91). " He 
was in fact a Unitarian. A Unitarian believes in the existence of one God in 
one person ; & Trinitarian, of one God in three persons. . . . The Trinity of 
which he speaks is little more than nominal''' (p. 42). " Every reader of the Bible 
knows that three Divine personages are set forth as being in some sense and to 
some extent distinct from each other" (p. 137). " The Divine Love and Wis- 
dom are usually and justly considered as the attributes of God, and not as con- 
stituting his very substance and essence''' {p. 168). " The process of Redemption, 
according to Swedenborg, is entirely different from that of the Scriptures — as these 
are understood by evangelical Christians" (p. 100). " To an evangelical believer 
— a Christian after the pattern of Paul" {p. 5). " Swedenborg denies the proper 
atonement of Christ" (98). " He denies the intercession of Christ" (101). ' : What 
(on his view of Intercession) becomes of all Christian supplication — such as in 
the Scriptures we are directed to offer ?" (102). " He denies Predestination as set 
forth in the Scriptures" (97). " Justification by faith is another of the great doc* 
trines of Revelation which he everywhere impugns and rejects" (104). "If 
Paul did not teach [justification by faith] then words cannot teach anything" (138). 
"Paul's language [on this subject] has been understood with a remarkable de- 
gree of uniformity by Evangelical Christians in all ages" (139). " Swedenborg 
held the unscriptural doctrine of ,an intermediate state between Heaven and 



66 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

Hell" (105). " The Scripture doctrine of the second coming of Christ, the genera! 
Judgment, and the end of the World are entirely set aside and rejected in the The- 
ology of Swedenborg" (109). " The language of the Bible is not wholly figura- 
tive, much less has it throughout the hidden senses which Swedenborg as- 
cribes to it" (77). " Swedenborgianismis not properly Christianity !" (285). 

What an incarnation of arrogance must this same professor of Theology be ! 
And though he tells us in his preface that his book is especially designed for 

evangelical" readers— that is, to convert the already converted— yet what a 
contempt must he have had even for their understandings while thus vaporing r 
and begging every great question in dispute ! Or, having lectured so long to the 
Hj uveniles" of Bangor, he perhaps presumes that " Evangelicals" in general 
only require him " to lay down the law" that they may show their patient sub- 
mission to his " authority." This will not do, Mr. Pond j and if you think that 
you can fill this country by the mere fragrance of your name, you may chance to 
find yourself mistaken. If your object was merely to prove that the system of 
Swedenborg and the New Church was not that of Calvin, you might have 
spared yourself the trouble. We are proud and happy to acknowledge that 
we dissent not only from him, but from all the sects and parties who more or 
less symbolize with him and appropriate to themselves the title of " Evangeli- 
cal," in the hope perhaps that the world will give them credit for the princi- 
ples and virtues which so respectable a name ought to imply. Most of us 
understand that system — quite as well, it may be T as you can inform us. Many 
of us remember the perplexities and anxiety it cost us while under its influ- 
ence. It was from its errors and inconsistencies, its doctrines so dishonorable 
to God, and its endless disputations, that we have fled ; and we feel that we 
can never be sufficiently grateful for the happy exchange we had it in our 
power to make. 

A writer who habitually violates the first principles of logic and the usual 
courtesies of argument is not entitled to a reply on his own account. It is for 
the sake of others that we return to the duty ; premising, however, that we 
shall follow his example and touch but lightly on matters of doctrine — but for 
a different reason. We deem it a work of supererogation to repeat arguments 
which are already enshrined in the able and eloquent works which we shall 
have frequent occasion to mention, and which have never yet been shaken } 
out especially is it unnecessary to re-enter on a full consideration of them when 
they have so recently been placed before the public in Prof. Bush's Reply to 
Dr. Woods, who traversed nearly the same ground with the present Reviewer. 
We will content ourselves with noticing only such of his remarks as seem to 
call for correction. 



And first as to the doctrine of the Trinity. Do all Unitarians believe in a 
God in one person % Do not many, who call themselves such, profess to be- 
lieve in a Deity equally diffused through all space, and that this " somewhat" 
has no person at all % . And cannot one acknowledge a trinity without believing 
in three persons ? If Dr. P. cannot perceive this distinction, it is hasty to argue 
from that fact to a similar want of perspicacity in other minds. And if Swe- 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 67 

denborg's Trinity appears to him merely " nominal," the ascription of Divinity 
to the Saviour on the tri-personal scheme is really so, for if divinity be divided 
into three equal shares, it is reduced to a nullity for all. There are moreover 
thousands of readers of the Bible, as he well knows, who can see therein no 
mention of more than one divine personage. And then let the Scriptures decide 
whether Love and Wisdom are not something more than mere t attributes." 
" God is Love," said John. H The Spirit is Truth." " Thy Word is Truth." " The 
Word was God." * The Word was made Flesh." "lam the Truth," said the 
Lord himself (1 John iv. 8 : v. 6 j John xvii. 17 ; i. 1, 14.; xiv. 6). In the The- 
ology of Swedenborg Truth and Wisdom are convertible terms. Coleridge has 
said, u Whether Ideas are regulative only according to Aristotle and Kant ; or 
likewise Constitutive, and one with the power and life of Nature, according 
to Plato and Plotinus, is the highest problem of Philosophy."* Our Professor has 
virtually prejudged this question ex cathedra; but while we appeal from his 
decision to the declarations of Holy Writ, for the guidance of plain minds — those 
who wish to examine the subject on grounds of Reason, will find it amply un- 
folded in those works of Swedenborg which treat of Sacred Metaphysics. 
What is an attribute I Is it not something which appears to rest in the objects 
of Nature or Spirit, by which they are characterized : and which either helps 
to constitute them, or is lent to them for their time being ? In either case there 
must be some fountain in the Universe from which they have originally pro- 
ceeded } and what other primary fountain can there be but Deity itself J If 
we ascend in thought to this source — can we stop short of the conclusion that 
what we call his attributes must go to constitute his very self — and that from 
Him do flow forth perennially and without exhaustion the streams which pre- 
serve the Creation which he originally made 1 — in a word, that " in Him, wc 
live and move and have our being ?•" 

In the Preliminary Letter the reader will find a statement of our views on the 
Trinity, sufficiently full and clear to enable him to distinguish between that 
plain and intelligible faith and the mysterious language which has so long 
passed current in the world. We find it necessary both to repeat a part and 
to make a small addition thereto. 

We believe in but one God, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, who became 
incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ of the New. When we say this we do 
not mean that the number of Gods or Persons was thereby multiplied. The one 
God could become " God with us" — "manifest in the flesh"— without thereby 
destroying his Unity. The human nature which he took on himself was con- 
ceived by his own power in the womb of a virgin and born into the world. 
Swedenborg it is true, taught that " our Lord had no human soul" but was 
animated directly by the Divinity instead. By which he meant that, having 
been conceived without the intervention of an earthly father (Luke i. 20-25), 
he had no spiritual body other than that he possessed from eternity, or such as an 
ordinary man inherits from his father, and which he wears in the other life 
when divested by death of the material -body derived from his mother. Such 
a spiritual body or human soul would have been superfluous. But the body 
derived from the mother included a natural mind which was capable of being de- 

* App. Stateman's Manual, App. Note E. 



68 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

veloped, by the indwelling divinity, through the higher degrees. It was this hu* 
man nature which was called " the Son of God," and not any separate divine 
person (Luke i. 35 ; Mai. hi. 1 ; comp. John ii. 21, and Heb. x. 5). But this hu- 
man nature, although properly called " holy" — in that it proceeded immediate- 
ly from the divine, as also that it was then in part the residence of Divinity 
and designed to be ultimately and wholly so — in another aspect, as being de- 
rived from an imperfect human mother, was itself imperfect, infirm, susceptible 
to temptation and therefore had tendencies to sin, though it never yielded 
thereto (Job xiv. 4 ; Luke ii. 40, 52; Matt. iv. 1-8 j xxii. 18; Heb. iv. 15 ; comp. 
Jas. i. 18; Ex. xxxiii. 20; Heb. ii. 10, 18). Now Dr. P. affects to think that 
there is no point of Swedenborgian divinity which will appear so strange and 
shocking to the whole Christian world as this. We desire the reader here, as 
elsewhere in this reply, to have his Bible at hand and to refer directly to the 
several passages cited : and also to consider that Swedenborg draws a dis- 
tinction between evil and sin, which is steadfastly observed throughout all his 
writings. For imperfections, weaknesses, infirmities, susceptibility to tempta- 
tion, inherited from parents who are alike defective or perverted, the individ- 
ual is not responsible unless he appropriate or yield to the same. And this is 
the only view of the subject that comports with the justice of God and the 
free-will of man. We suppose that none but Romanists believe in the immac- 
ulate conception of the blessed Virgin. When therefore we recur to the texts 
and find Job declaring that " a clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean :" 
that " the child Jesus waxed strong in spirit," and therefore was not perfect in 
strength before and of course infirm ; that " he increased in wisdom and in favor 
with God," and therefore was not yet perfect in wisdom : that "he was tempt- 
ed of the devil" and of the Pharisees of that day : " made perfect through suf- 
ferings," and consequently was not perfect before ; which sufferings were oc- 
casioned by his "being tempted" — "tempted in all points like as we are, yet 
without sin, and therefore he is able to succor us :" that " God cannot be tempted 
of evil," and of course it was the human nature which thus suffered ; are not the 
several positions fully sustained and by the highest authority ? And why 
should it be thought a degradation in Jehovah to assume the human — which 
was originally his own nature, though now lapsed from its integrity — for the 
purpose of restoring it. To the pure all things are pure, and 

" Evil into the mind of God or man 

May come and go, so unapproved, and leave 

No spot or blame behind." — Par. Lost, V. 117. 

But, in his eagerness to convict us of heresy, the Reviewer has unconsciously 
accused himself ; for his own Confession of Faith says that " the eternal God 
did . . . take upon him man's nature, and all the essential properties and 
common infirmities thereof !" (Chap. VIII. Sec. 2). This is going farther than 
we do, for when we inquire what is here to be understood by " common in- 
firmities," if we will look back to Chap. VI. Sec. 2, 3, 4 of the same document, 
we find it stated that in consequence of the fall of Adam, " all his posterity" 
. . . " are wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body" . . 
" made opposite to all good and wholly inclined to all evil. 1 " We regard such a 
statement as this as a libel on our Maker, and one which cannot justly be 
predicated of any except the worst of devils. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 60 

He is also disturbed that Swedenborg should make the spiritual sense of the 
Psalms expressive of our Lord's suffering during temptation. Yet here again 
we are favored with the suffrage of Bishop Home ; and Bishop Horsley is very- 
express to the same purpose, in the preface to his " Translation 1 ' of that book. 
"Of those Psalms which allude to the life of David, there are none in which 
the Son of David is not the principal and immediate subject. David's afflictions 
are the Messiah's sufferings. David's penitential supplications are the sup- 
plications of Messiah in agony. David's songs of triumph and thanksgiving, 
are Messiah's songs of triumph and thanksgiving for his victory over sin and 
death and hell. In a word, there is not a page of this book of Psalms in which the 
pious reader will wot find the Saviour.'''' 

If then, as has been revealed, Jehovah "Condescended to assume our nature, 
at first burdened with its common infirmities, but afterwards to be purified and 
strengthened as a fit temple for the Divinity, it makes no difference as to the 
fact, whether the body was prepared in a moment, a day, or thirty three years. 
But the difference was great in other respects. The Deity of the Bible does 
nothing without means. He is also a God of order ; his attributes act in har- 
mony, and infinite power will do nothing which is not sanctioned by infinite 
wisdom. The purposes of Jehovah did not terminate in the mere assumption 
of humanity. There were ends to be effected while this process was going on ; 
it must therefore be gradual. 

The free will of man, which consists hi his being placed in equilibria be- 
tween opposite spiritual influences, was being disturbed: and from besieging 
the minds the powers of -evil had advanced so far as to possess the very bodies 
of men. 'Hiis fearful disorder must be rectified; but by whom ? None but 
Divinity -was competent to the task (Isa. lix. 16, 17 ; lxiii. 1-5 ; John xvi. 32). 
But as the naked Divinity is a a consuming fire," and no one "can see God 
and live 1 ' (Ex. xxxiii. 20; Heb, xii. 29) ; and as, therefore, in the long interval 
between the fall of man and the Incarnation, the communication with his 
creatures was by the intervention of an angel (Gen. xlviii. 16 ; Ex. iii. 2; xxiii„ 
20-23 ; Isa. lxiii. 9 ; Heb. xii. 29) ; so a veil must now be interposed to prevent 
the destruction alike of men as of their spiritual foes. This veil was the hu- 
man nature, by means of which the latter could be approached. Their tempt- 
ations were endured in all possible variety and triumphantly repelled in every 
instance, as we have seen above, through the power of the Divinity within. 
That there was such a contention with and victory over the infernal powers 
may also be inferred from the following passages (Isa. lxiii. 1-9 ; lix. 16, 17 ; 
Jer. xlvi. 5, 10; Ps. xlv. 4-7 ; John xii.31 ; xvi. 11 ; xvii.33 ; Luke x. 18 ; Rev. 
i. 18). The result of this process was that his humanity was perfected, divi- 
nized, or, as it is expressed in Scriptures, " glorified" (John vii. 39; xiii. 31. 32 ; 
xvii. 15 ; xii. 27, 28 ; Luke xxiv. 26 ; Phil. iii. 21) ; completed when he himself 
announced from the cross " it is finished" (John xix. 30) ; and when complete, 
a new divine influence was put forth which did not before exist ; so that now 
the Father dwells in the Son and the Holy Spirit proceeds from him (Col. ii. 9 ; 
John xiv. 7-11 ; x. 30, 38 ; vii. 39,comp. xx. 22). The conquest being thus ob- 
tained, is also secured. The infernal influence is not only quelled for the 
time, but so repressed as to be for ever kept within due bounds. For, so to 



70 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

speak, the armor of proof with which he was then fully invested, being worn 
lor ever, renders him accessible to his friends, though ©f brightness intolerable 
to his foes. 

But this is unintelligible to our Reviewer. " He can conceive of the Divine, 
in conjunction with the human ; but for the literal human to become Dmne ,- 
or, in other words, for a man, or any part of a man, to become God,. I hold to 
be something more than a miracle ; it is an absolute impossibility," But this 
is not what Swedenborg says. He repeatedly declares that all things derived 
from the mother were successively " put q^" on occasion of his victories over tempt- 
ation ; the imperfect forms being as regularly substituted by divine forms which 
were derived and brought forth from the Divinity within, until the whole was 
perfect ; and intimates that ouf conceptions may be- aided here by the analo- 
gous process that takes place in man's body which is constantly undergoing 
waste and repair ; as also by the tendency of the soul in man to assimilate 
the body to itself, which is so well known that the latter is proverbially said 
to be the index of the former. Our Lord was at first andl rightly called " the Son 
of Mary;" but whereas he afterwards repudiated that title (Johnii. 4; xix, 
26, 27 '-. Luke viii. 20, 21 ; xx. 40-44) ; so, as he advances through the several 
stages of this glorification, he claimed a nearer affinity with the Father; until 
at length he declared the union between them to be entire and reciprocal 
(John x. 30 ; xvii. 10, 21). Thus without any blending or confusion of the s 
two they are distinctly one. 

Now if Dr. Pond cannot conceive of a Divine Humanity, Clement, St.. Austin*. 
Eusebius, and others of the Fathers, as also Dr. Henry More and Coleridge* 
among the moderns, did, all of whom use the very phrase or its equivalents. 
The primitive Christians believed the fact in simplicity — but we can readily 
suppose that they did not understand it clearly. This was one of the " things 
which they could not bear" — to-be expounded more fully when, at his Second 
Advent, he was "■ to show us plainly of the Father." Though individuals may 
have had a clearer perception of this grand truth, the unsuccessful efforts to 
elucidate it to the minds of Christians in general, first raised up.Arius — then 
Athanasius on the opposite extreme — with all the intermediate shades of error 
— which convulsed the Church through centuries — until the scimitar of Ma- 
homet gave them all a stern rebuke, and rescued at least one and the most 
important truth from perishing amid their inveterate quarrels., If still he 
denies that the Humanity is divine, will he tell us what and where- it is now. 
Himself assured his disciples that it* would be omnipotent and omnipresent, and 
Paul declares that it was " received up into glory" and " ascended far above all 
the heavens" (Matt, xviii. 20 ; I Tim. iii. 16 ; Eph. iv. 10). How much less 
than Divinity it would require to impart these virtues ? 

But farther : Jesus declared anew the everlasting laws of Heaven, without 
the observance of which, it is impossible to attain the ends of our creation — 
and gave us his divine counsels to walk therein. He promised pardon on 
sincere repentance, for most true it is that in the Theology of Swedenborg 
as in that of the Bible, " the removal and remission of sins are the same" (Job 
xxii. 2, 3: xxxv. 6, 7; Jer. xviii. 7, 8; Isa. Iv. 7; Luke xxiv. 47, 48: Acts v. 
30, 31 ; 1 John i. 9).. He did yet more. He set us a perfect example for our 



DR. POND S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 71 

imitation (Matt. x. 38; xvi. 24; xix. 28; John xii. 26 ; 1 Pet. ii. 21, 22 ; 1 Cor. 
x. 13; 2 Cor. hi. 17, 18 ; iv. 16) ; and held out new inducements and gave us 
new powers to follow him in the regeneration (Luke xiii. 24; Heb. xii. 4; 
Phil. ii. 12; 1 Cor. x. 13 ; Heb. ii. 18; Jas. i. 12). Thus did "God in Christ' 1 
make ''atonement" or reconcile the world to himself; and thus does His Human- 
ity '" intercede*' or go between them and then Maker (2 Cor. v. 19 ; Rom. v. 9, 
11). But this seems to give our Reviewer as little satisfaction as the other. 
He asks, " what has Christ actually done for his people % He has afforded 
them instruction. He has set them an example. He overcame his temptations, 
and they must overcome theirs. He purified his corrupt human nature, and 
they must purify theirs. He has also removed and restrained to some extent, 
the evil spirits, or hells, so that the temptations of men may not be so great, 
nor their return to God so difficult, as they would otherwise have been. But 
has he made any satisfaction to the broken law, or the injured justice of Je- 
hovah ? Has he opened to the despairing sinner a way of pardon ? not at all. 
Nothing of this was needed. The atonement of the Swedenborgian therefore, 
when stripped of all its magniloquent, mystical, and absurd phraseology, is 
little more than the atonement of the simple Humanitarian ; — a provision, on the 
ground of which some of the difficulties in the way of repentance are removed, 
and new motives are furnished for the performance of the duty." A very 
small affair truly. To give free agents, who cannot be forced, " power to become 
the sons of God," " to work out their own salvation," and to assure them that 
though •• temptation" is incident to their present state, " it shall never be irre- 
sistible," and to place " an eternal weight of glory" in the vista as the fruit of 
obedience ! Verily our Professor is grateful to his Maker for his gifts ! 

We are fully apprised that there is a system revived in modern times by 
Marthi Luther, and attempted to be fathered on Paul, which teaches that this 
may be accomplished by a much shorter method : that " a satisfaction has 
been made to the injured justice of Jehovah" by one who — the same system 
declares — was Jehovah himself ! — who paid the debt which mankind owed — 
its adherents do not very well agree to whom or what — but if simiers will only 
believe that this divine person was actuated by love, and another divine per- 
son by vengeance ; that the latter punislied the former though innocent " in the 
room and stead" of sinners though guilty, and called it justice ! — if he will only 
believe these and few more such consistent and probable and honorable pro- 
positions, he will be "justified," and if there be time to do no more — will be 
saved ! This expedient, we must own, has something very alluring about it. 
But believing as we do hi one only and just God, who has told us hi innumer- 
able places that we "shall be judged according to our works," and through 
his apostle, that" man is not justified by faith only," and that "faith without 
works is dead''' (James ii. 24, 26) ; we think it rather hazardous to trust such 
promises. 

The sum of the above explanation is, that Jesus Christ is the Christian's God 
— in whose sole person is concentrated the Trinity of the Scriptures — the 
Father dwelling in Him, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from Him— just as in the 
person of each individual man we find a soul and body and power of action result- 
ing from the union of the other two. That his humanity, at first imperfect, was 



72 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

afterwards glorified or made divine, by victory over all temptations ; that in ef- 
fecting this, the menaced liberty of man was defended and confirmed — the world 
reconciled to God — new motives and powers of obedience to the divine coun- 
sels furnished — and that it is this Humanity which mediates or intercedes between 
man and the naked divinity — and is therefore to be directly approached in 
worship. Will the reader contrast this now with the following statement of 
the learned and pious and orthodox Bishop Beveridge. " We are now to con- 
sider the order of those persons in the trinity described in the words before us 
(Matt, xxviii. 19). First, the Father, and then the Son, and then the Holy Ghost ; 
every one of which is really and truly God ; and yet they are all but one real 
and true God. A mystery, which we are all bound to believe, but yet must 
have a great care how we speak of it, it being both easy and dangerous to mis- 
take in expressing so mysterious a truth as this is. If we think of it, how hard 
is it to imagine one numerically Divine nature in more than one and the same 
Divine person ? Or three Divine persons in no more than one and the same 
Divine nature ? If we speak of it, how hard is it to find out words to express 
it % If I say the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be three, and every one distinctly 
God, it is true ; but if I say they be three, and every one a distinct God, it is 
false. I may say the Divine persons are distinct in the Divine nature ; but I 
cannot say, that the Divine nature is divided into the Divine persons. I may 
say, God the Father is one God, and the Son is one God, and the Holy Ghost 
is one God, but T cannot say, that the Father is one God, and the Son another 
God, and the Holy Ghost a third God. I may say, the Father begat another 
who is God ; yet I cannot say, that he begat another God. And from the 
Father and the Son proceedeth another who is God ; yet I cannot say, from the 
Father and the Son proceedeth another God. For all this while, though their 
nature be the same, their persons are distinct • and though their persons be 
distinct, yet still their nature is the same. So that, though the Father be the 
first person in the Godhead, the Son the second, the Holy Ghost the third ; yet 
the Father is not the first, the Son a second, and the Holy Ghost a third God. 
So hard a thing is it to word so great a mystery aright ; or to fit so high a truth with 
expressions suitable and proper to it, without going one way or another from it. 1 " 1 — 
(Bishop Beveridge 's Private Thoughts, part II. p. 48, 49). 

" Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without understanding ?" 
Can such a jargon of distinctions without difference convey instruction to men 
of plain minds ? and should that be called a Revelation ! which imparts noth- 
ing clearer? Is this the narrow strait between Scylla and Charybdis — which 
reminds us of the fabled bridge of Mahomet, along which his followers glide 
into their Paradise — is this the broad sea of Truth over which the Christian is 
invited to sail? Can it be the highway in which even the fool need not err? 
Is it not rather a labyrinth in which the wisest if he permit himself to be led 
therein blindfold, may wander for ever after in the hope of egress ? — And yet 
this is neither better nor worse than numberless similar statements which 
might be quoted. Let a candid public judge between us and them. 

But there are other points of doctrine which have been called in question 
and to which we must briefly advert. 

Swedenborg taught that all the inhabitants of the spiritual world are of the 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 73 

human species, and that there is neither angel nor demon who was not once a man on 
this or some other earth. In particular does he deny the existence of such a be- 
ing as Milton's satan, once an archangel, then a rebel, and now the prince of 
hell. However brilliant and perfect the execution of the work of Milton, the 
conception on which the whole character is based, is perhaps the most gigan- 
tic absurdity (one always excepted) that ever entered the mind of a man of 
sense, and profane to boot (see Job Abbott, 141-144). Mr. Noble (Appeal, sec. 
VI. p. 2), has examined every passage of the Word that has been usually 
thought to favor such an idea, and shows that they refer not to any personal 
devil, but to the infernal powers in the aggregate. For the rest, "man" and 
" angel" in the Scriptures, are convertible terms, as the following passages se- 
lected from a number will show (Judg. xiii. 6, 10, 11 ; Dan. ix. 21 ; Micah 
xvi. 5; John xx. 12; Rev. xxi. 17 ; xx. 8, 9). The Reviewer quotes the state- 
ment of this doctrine without comment, but includes it in his catalogue of re- 
jected truths (pp. 46, 92). 

Dr. P. says, that the Scriptures represent the sins of men as in some way 
connected with the fall of their first parents (96). When justly interpreted, we 
see no such dogma there, as we hope to show hereafter, certainly not in Rom. 
v. 18, 19, which he cites for that purpose. The latter verse speaks of "many" 
not of all men, and thus favors our view of a man's propensities being inherit- 
ed from his immediate progenitors. Sin might commence with one man with- 
out his being the first man. From him the tendency might spread by conta- 
gion and be propagated by descent, until in process of time it would involve all 
in corruption. So that judgment would ultimately come upon the whole race 
living at some later period, without being retrospective in its operation. Adam 
was " the first man" only in the sense that Christ was the second man, the one 
the type of a degenerating, the other of a regenerating stock. 

Swedenborg denied the doctrine of election and predestination, as called by 
Calvinists, and taught that all are predestinated to heaven, but that such only 
will be elected as have by charity and obedience formed a character fitted for 
such a residence. Dr. P. touches but lightly upon this topic. But why is it no 
longer preached by him and his compeers ? To use his own genteel language 
(p. 244), "we challenge them to do it." Some years ago, Dr. Porter, of Ando- 
ver, in a private letter to Dr. Beecher (which, however, found its way to the 
press without leave of the person to whom it was addressed), utters the fol- 
lowing complaints : " Thirty years ago, ten sermons on total depravity and 
election were preached in New England to one that is preached on those sub- 
jects now." The number, we should judge, is not likely to increase there or 
elsewhere, as there is not perhaps a single living individual, distinguished for 
literature, science or philosophy, who holds to the latter doctrine, unless he 
may have adopted it with his creed. Your old friend John Wesley, as we 
have seen, after quoting the Confession of Faith, in reference to " the decrees 
of God," on this subject, says : " I defy you to say anything so bad of the 
devil." And we must own that we concur with him in opinion. 

Swedenborg taught that regeneration is not instantaneous, but progressive. 
And herein he is not peculiar, having the concurrence of multitudes of pious, 
learned and sober Protestant divines, both before and since. The Calvinistic 



74 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

notion is based on a false analogy. Man is not born in an instant. He is 
borne or carried by his mother for months before he enters the world. Just so, 
he is afterwards spiritually carried by our Lord, long before his regeneration is 
complete — or he is fitted for entering on the new life of heaven. "Whosoever 
is born of God," says John, " doth not commit sin" (1 John iii. 9 ; v. 18). Daily 
observation shows that thousands of those who profess to be regenerate, accord- 
ing to L)r. Pond's notion, do not come up to this standard. Conversion is a 
different thing, for the Christian life, like any other course, must have a begin- 
ning. The dogma we oppose has given birth to spiritual pride — to presump- 
tion — to self-deception, and a train of evils. 

Swedenborg denied the resurrection of the natural body, — but so did John 
Locke, Dr. Thomas Burnet, Prof. Bush (before he became a Swedenborgian), 
and others whom we can name. And here again, one apologist, Mr. Noble 
(Sec. Ill), comes in with his exhaustive criticism, passing in review every pas- 
sage of Scripture, which has been supposed to favor the common notion, and 
has proved their entire insufficiency for that purpose. When Dr. Pond shall have 
succeeded in setting aside the argument of either of these gentlemen, it will 
be time enough to consider it further. Meantime we will only add that the 
orthodox themselves are not agreed as to what is raised : reciprocally charging 
each other with vending heresy. Paul says that " there is a natural body and 
there is a spiritual body;" that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God :" that " the body sown is not the body that shall be ;" that " a natural 
body is sown and a spiritual body is raised" (1 Cor. xv. 44, 50, 37). In like 
manner Swedenborg taught that the resurrection of the same body is simply 
impossible, but that the spiritual body, which every man has enclosed in his 
natural body — rises up at death a spirit — that is, the man himself, in a spiritual 
world, which is to be its future residence, and refers in proof to Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, Moses, and others who are now living men in that world (Matt. xxii. 
32, 33 ■ Luke xvi. 22-24 ; ix. 30 ; Rev. vi. 9 ; xxii. 8, 9). 

Again : Swedenborg says that " the Earth will never be destroyed," and one 
of his followers has referred to the following passages of Scripture in proof. 
Gen. ix. 12; Ecc. i. 4; Ps. lxxii. 17; Ixxviii. 69; lxxxix. 35-37; xcvi. 10; 
xciii. 1 ; civ. 5 ; cxxv. 1 ; cxix. 90 ; cxlviii. 6 ; 2 Sam. vii. 16 ; Isa. ix. 7 ; Dan. ii. 
44; vii. 14, 27; Micah iv. 5, 7; Comp. Luke i. 33 and Rev. xi. 15. Every Greek 
scholar knows that the phrase " end of the world" in Matt. xiii. 39 ; xxiv. 30 ; 
xxviii. 20 ; should be translated " consummation of the age." Peter, who (Acts 
ii. 16-20) had explained similar language of the Prophet Joel as fulfilled on 
the day of Pentecost, in his 2d Epistle iii. 7-10, has reference to the above words 
of our Lord ; of course to be fulfilled in a similar manner, as also wherever it 
is used in the prophetic style. Matt. v. 18 ; Luke xvi. 17, and 18, and the like, 
declare, by a strong Hebraism, of two events that both are equally improbable ; 
so that the passages just cited retain their literal import. 

Swedenborg did not deny the doctrine of future or general judgment . He as- 
serts that several such judgments have already taken place, particularly one 
which was predicted by the Ancient Prophets as to occur during the first 
Advent, and which is referred to in such passages as the following, as actually 
going on (Matt. iii. 11, 12; John v. 25; ix. 39; xii. 31). Another, which was 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 75 

foretold by the Lord himself (Matt, xxiv.), and of which Swedenborg declares 
that he was permitted to be an eye-witness, that the same might be announced 
to the world. He further tells us that it took place hi the year 1757. And cer- 
tainly if the world is ever to be destroyed, no natural reason can be given why 
it might not occur at one time as well as at another. The changes which have 
since taken place in this world, as we think, give token of such a judgment 
having then happened. But this brings us to the last great heresy which is 
laid to his charge. 

If the material body rise not again ; if the Earth abideth for ever ; where could 
such a judgment take place except in the spiritual world % And as the ma- 
jority of our race are of such mixed character, as requires their true disposition 
to be developed gradually, or else to be passed upon by Infinite Wisdom, be- 
fore consigning them to their final abode in heaven or hell — does not the 
necessity for an intermediate state and place immediately appear % For this doc- 
trine Dr. Pond -finds not a particle of evidence in either the Old Testament or 
New.'- Others however do; and in Hindmarsh's Compendium, one of the 
volumes which he has -pondered," much of it is collected. Many of the 
objects, and scenes, and occurrences witnessed by the old Prophets and by 
John, hi Spiritual vision, were neither in Heaven or Hell. And this middle 
place is otherwise alluded to in the Scriptures. 

The Old Fathers, we think without exception, believed hi it, as was long ago 
noticed by Daille, and Bishop Pearson, in his work on the Creed, makes copious 
extracts from them in proof. Chapman, the champion of Episcopacy, says : 
'• The doctrine of an intermediate state should not be discarded on the ground 
of novelty, as it is peculiar to no age or country, nor to any Protestant denomina- 
tion. It is rather maintained by all the great divines of our church, from the 
time of Cranmer to that of Horsley, and notwithstanding the popular opinion 
upon "which I have animadverted, our learned dissenting brethren have not 
been averse from defending its Scriptural authority, as may be seen in the 
writings of Doddridge, Watts, Campbell, and McKnight, of the Presbyterian 
Church; and Wesley and Adam Clark, of the Methodist, with many others. 
There are indeed few truths contained in the Sacred Volume, susceptible of clearer 
demonstration' (Sermons, p. 277). And the late Bishop Hobart, of New- York, 
has, hi a learned dissertation, given his sanction to the same view. After this, 
we think, the reader must concur with us in our admiration of the modesty of 
this Reviewer ; and which especially shines forth in the closing sentence of this 
chapter. After what has been said, his readers will decide, whether the posi- 
tion . . . ' : that Swedenborg discards much important religious truth, and 
inculcates, on many points, essential error," is not fully justified ! 



Such are the teachings of Swedenborg on some of the principal heads of 
Theology, to which this Reviewer excepts ; and chiefly, as we have seen, for 
the reason that they differ from those of Calvinists on the same subjects; for 
really, his pretended arguments are scarce worthy of the name ; and his cita- 
tions of Scripture are so entirely beside the question, or overruled by others, — 
or so obviously misinterpreted, that if the spirit of the book was not too mani- 



76 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

fest elsewhere, we should have thought he was trying an experiment on the 
credulity of his readers. — There yet remains a grave and kindred charge — that 
of "frequently contradicting and denying the obvious teachings of Scrip- 
ture," to substantiate which he enumerates some fifteen particulars " in re- 
spect to minor matters." Thus Swedenborg says: (1.) "The Lord did not 
create the Universe for his own sake," or " for his own glory," as those expres- 
sions are ordinarily understood. (2.) That the true system of Theology was 
not discoverable without the aid of Revelation, and is therefore charged with 
denying all natural Theology. (3.) That miracles and signs do not reform a 
free agent, because they force. (4.) Nor threats and punishments, — for the same 
reason. (5.) That the rich may attain to Heaven as easily as the poor. (6.) 
That the marriage relation exists in Heaven. (7.) That the angels are not al- 
ways praising God in Heaven. (8.) That neither are they altogether pure. (9.) 
Nor perfectly happy. (10.) That the Lord casts no one down to Hell, but the 
wicked betake themselves thither. (11.) That the punishment of Hell is not 
retrospective, but for evils then and there done. (12.) That even the devils are 
the subjects of the Lord's mercy. (13.) That they are at times permitted to 
sleep. (14.) That they are as much in error as in sin. (15.) That many 
phrases of Scripture are to be construed to a sense the opposite of that conveyed 
by the letter. — Truly, a most formidable array of instances to be brought for- 
ward for such a purpose in the Nineteenth Century ! 

But, a word before we enter on a specific reply. Waving, for the present, 
the question of a Spiritual Sense, we had supposed that it was scarcely 
necessary at this day, for any man of common intelligence, who was also 
tolerably acquainted with the Word, and respected it as a Revelation from 
God — to be told that its " obvious sense" was not always its true sense, even 
where the inquiry has exclusive reference to the sense of the letter, and that 
what is now called the " figurative meaning" of Scriptures has a much wider 
scope than was believed in the Middle Ages. A Professor of Theology, who 
still asserts the former deserves to be unfrocked. This whole book is " obvi- 
ously" an ad captandum appeal to prejudice. But we would gently suggest to 
Dr. P. that he is here pressing this prerogative of Evangelicals a little too far — 
and remind him that we could quote authority against him without end, — nay, 
the very text-books of his own Seminary. We will not insult the understand- 
ings of our readers by arguing such a question at length. Sufficient it may 
be to observe, that the Word of God is addressed to men, and is therefore 
clothed in the language of men. As a further consequence of this, much of it 
is written in a style according to appearances. The true rule of interpretation 
is that which reconciles all its parts among themselves, and every part with 
sound reason and true doctrine. Any other mode of proceeding will render its 
teachings uncertain, beget doubts of its divinity, and ultimately bring it into 
contempt. " Save me from my friends," is the ever-renewed cry of the more 
prudent advocates of Revelation, when they reflect on the mischief which is 
wrought by those who insist on adhereing to its literal meaning throughout. 
It is impossible for any sane mind to believe two contradictory propositions. 
Truth is sometimes harmonious, consistent with itself; — no one truth can con- 
tradict any other truth • by consequence, a truth of reason or philosophy is not 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 77 

really opposed to unapparent truth of Scripture. "Judge not according to 
appearances, but judge righteous judgment," was the emphatic injunction of 
the Lord himself, and on a similar occasion. 

(1.) We grant then that there is an aspect in which it is true that " the Lord 
hath made all things for himself" and "for his pleasure;" but not in that sense 
which Swedenborg denied. He taught that God was infinite in his perfections : 
that he was the self-sufficient Being, who needed nothing from without to com- 
plete his happiness : that He was love — and that " it is the essence of love to 
love others out of itself— to desire to be one with them — and to make them 
happy from itself :" that hence this earth was designed to be " the perpetual 
seminary of heaven," from which angels might be constantly arriving at his 
court, in order to become the recipients of his happiness and blessings to 
eternity — and that all other worlds were created with the same view. When 
therefore men talk of God's having made all things " for his own glory," we 
desire them to define their position with accuracy. Do they suppose that 
God can derive any addition to his glory from the services of men, as do earthly 
princes from the labors and obedience of their subjects : that like them he can- 
not be altogether disinterested 1 Can any one at the present day be likely to 
fall into so insane a delusion who duly reflects on what Divinity is, and what 
man is, and their relation to each other ? " Can man be profitable to God ? rt 
. . " Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art, and thy righteousness 
may profit the son of man, but if thou sinnest what doest thou against him ! 
. . if thou be righteous what givest thou him." " He openeth his hand and 
supplieth the wants of every living thing." " All nations before him are as a 
drop of the bucket — as nothing ; and they are counted to him as the small dust 
of the balance — yea as less than nothing and vanity" (1 Chr. xxix 11, 12, 14, 
16 ; Job xii. 10 ; xxii. 2 ; xxxv. 6-8 ; Ps. cxlv. 16 ; Isa. xl. 15-17, 28 ; Acts xviL 
25, 26 ; Rom. xi. 35, 36). And the same rational view has been subscribed to 
by the Lecturer himself. The Westminster Confession of Faith says, " God 
hath all . . glory and goodness . . in and of himself, and is alone 
in and unto himself all sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he 
hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory, 
in, by, unto, and upon them" (Chap. II. Sec. 2). Nevertheless we fear there 
are still many who secretly indulge the unworthy sentiments of their Maker 
which are there rebuked : nay, that they are at the basis of their whole theo- 
logical system, and the pretext for the idea of arbitrary rewards and punish- 
ments which pervades it in so many directions ; colors it throughout, and has 
suggested some of the very objections now under review. We know indeed 
that there are other passages in this Confession of Faith which seem to con- 
tradict that just cited ; nor is this the only inconsistency, by many, which it 
contains. But such a document is not without its use to those who know 
how to turn it to their purposes. For if a particular offensive dogma or its 
logical consequences are charged on them, they can point to a passage in 
which the opposite of the former is asserted, or where the latter are disclaimed : 
they can employ the authority of either as occasion requires, and if called on 
to reconcile them, they are relieved from the task by the ever-ready plea of 
" mystery." 



78 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

What is the true glory of earthly princes ? Is it not the number, the virtue, 
and the happiness of their subjects % And as tributary to these, peace, plenty, 
defence against enemies — which in their turn are promoted by education, 
knowledge, the culture of the arts and sciences and their application to pur- 
poses of utility : by just and equal laws for the regulation of their civil and social 
intercourse with each other % The monarch who really loves his subjects and 
seeks their well-being is not he who regards them as his slaves : who makes 
invidious distinctions among them : who oppresses and wears them out with 
his exactions : and under pretext of supporting the dignity and magnificence 
of his reign, concentrates the resources of his realm within the precincts of his 
Court : who issues his capricious edicts without condescending to annex his 
reasons or to show their need and utility : who, in short, says, " I am the state." 
Is he not rather one who is in all respects the reverse of this : who by wise 
measures diffuses blessings : and, being disinterested, wishes to see his own 
happiness reflected in that of his people ? And should we think more un- 
worthy of our Lord who needs nothing from his people, and freely gives them 
all they have 1 

(2.) It is not true that Swedenborg denies natural theology, in the proper 
sense of that term, as may be inferred from such propositions as the following 
which he illustrates at length . That there is a universal influx from God into 
the souls of men, that there is a God, and that he is one. Thence that, in all 
the world, there is not a nation possessed of religion and sound reason, which 
does not acknowledge a God, and that God is one. That as to what that one 
God is, nations and people have differed, and still differ from several causes. 
That human reason, from many things in the world, may perceive and conclude if 
it will that there is a God, and that He is One. That enlightened reason, from 
very many things in the world, may see the infinity of God {T. C. R. 8, 9, 11, 
12, 32). And similar ideas are to be found in other parts of his works. He 
says indeed that there never has been a time when there was not a church upon 
earth, and that every church has been favored with revelations. That there was 
an ancient Word in which that revelation was reduced to writing, from which 
the knowledge of the true God was diffused throughout the East and Africa, 
and was long handed down by tradition, and that the doctrine of the divine 
Unity may have been reflected thence to the minds of philosophers in Pagan 
countries. That men may know from reason that there is a God and some of 
his attributes, but not know who is the true God, or the Lord, or a future life, 
&c. And ill this he is not singular. The learned Bishop Huet, Coleridge, 
Presidents Marsh* and Hopkinsf all teach the same thing ; and as much may 
be inferred from all past history. And was not this the very line of argument 
taken up by Leland and others during the last century in opposing the Deist- 
ical writers ? 

IN or does Paul teach more than this in Rom. i. 20, as the context proves. Our 
Lord has promised (John vii. 17) that if any man will do his will he shall know 
of the doctrine whether it be true. And Paul, having just before said that 
"in the Gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith 1 ' i. e. 

* Coleridge's Aids to Reflections, Marsh's Ed. Note 57. f Cousin Phil. Miscel. Note C. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 79 

the justice which God required, is made plainer to believers as they advance 
through successive degrees in the knowledge of truth — now alludes to another 
class of men " who hold the truth in unrighteousness," or who knew the truth 
and yet suppressed it by unrighteousness : " who when they knew God, glorified 
him not as God." They might indeed have inferred his invisible attributes of Power 
end Divinity from the appearance of naturS (without the aid of revelation) — and if 
they had properly used that knowledge, higher gifts might have been imparted. 
" So that they are without excuse." But not wishing to retain God in their 
knowledge, they fell into idolatry and its consequent corruptions ; and lost the 
knowledge which they had once possessed and which could only be restored 
by a new revelation. Paul did not believe any more than Job (xi. 7) that man 
could " by searching find out the Almighty to perfection," as his address to the 
Athenians (Acts xvii.) proves. But when the true God has been once de- 
clared by revelation, the belief of his attributes may be confirmedby the appear- 
ances of nature. 

(3, 4.) We have already adverted to the subject of miracles. In this connex- 
ion we will only add that either they, or " threats and punishments" may be the 
occasion of bringing certain stupid, or careless, or obstinate individuals to re- 
flection ; and this may lead to their voluntary reformation afterwards. But that 
neither one of them alone could be the cause of such a result, is a necessary 
inference from the doctrine of free agency, even if daily observation did not 
prove that such reformations are but " skin deep." 

(5.) Our Lord, having said that it was hard for a rich man to enter the king- 
dom of heaven, immediately expounded his own declaration as referred to 
those "who trust in riches." To be consistent, the objector should preach a 
community of goods .' though we do not remember to have heard of any of his 
way of thinking who voluntarily embraced poverty as being in itself an aid to 
salvation. 

(6.) It is most true that Swedenborg declares that the marriage union is con- 
tinued in the other life : and, so far as we know, was the first who clearly 
showed the misconstruction which had been placed on the conference between 
our Lord and the Sadducees (Lukexx. 27-38). As we propose to recur to this, 
we will only add here, that when this Reviewer goes farther and says that, 
according to Swedenborg, children are also born in heaven, he states what he 
must have known at the time he pemied it to be a deliberate falsehood ! We 
use the term of purpose, because, although we are loath to attribute such con- 
duct to any man of respectable social position — far less to a clergyman — yet 
in this instance the fraud and its motive are both palpable ; for Swedenborg 
asserts the very reverse — •pronouncing moreover such a result to be impossible ! 

(7.) Swedenborg expressly states that there is "worship in heaven, at stated 
periods, but that such is not the exclusive occupation of its inmates. The vulgar 
ideas on this subject have furnished a fruitful theme for pleasantry, as is well 
known : and yet we have a Professor of Theology railing at him for saying 
that heaven is not " a nunnery." That there are all possible gradations of 
happiness and its opposite, from the most exalted felicity down to extreme 
misery, even Paley teaches (Mor. Phil. B. I. Chap. VII. Sec. 2). In reply to the 
objection that in the infinite varieties of human character " there must be very 



80 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

little to choose between the worst man who is received into heaven and the best 
who is excluded," he says, " and how know we but that there may be as little to choose 
in their conditions ?" This is much too strongly stated — for there is an impass- 
able gulf between heaven and hell. But his inference as to the variety of 
conditions in the other life we think is fairly drawn from the passages of 
Scripture there cited (2 Cor. ix. 6; Luke xii. 47, 48; Mark ix. 41; Luke xix. 
16, &c). This being granted, we can also suppose that there is a class of 
spirits whose occupation is such as is described in Rev. iv. 8 ; but that perpetual 
psalmody is not the one occupation of angels generally, may also be inferred 
from the fact that many of them are engaged in the guardianship and minis- 
tration to men while on earth. 

(8.) And do the Scriptures represent heaven as a place of " unspotted purity 1" 
" Behold," says Eliphaz, " he put no trust in his servants and his angels he charged 
with folly J . . Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight" (Job iv. 18; xv. 15). 
Rev. xxi. 27 refers to those who are to constitute the New Jerusalem. Those 
who voluntarily and habitually do evil and cherish falsehood are excluded from its 
pale. Swedenborg says the wicked are sometimes " admitted into heaven by 
way of experiment," but " they soon find the atmosphere unsuited to their state" 
and hasten to withdraw. " Visitors" must first be prepared. But it can become 
the permanent residence of no one who has not already formed a character 
suited to the society he is like to meet there. It was the lowest heaven which 
was " infested" temporarily by the infernals, but protected by the divine pro- 
vidence against their assaults. 

(9.) If heaven was a state of perfect happiness, there would in this respect 
be nothing to acquire. Perfection does not admit of degrees. But as the hap- 
piness of the other life is progressive ; we may also suppose that suffering may 
sometimes be incidental to a preparation for its lower degrees, when the in- 
dividual is being divested of the remains of error or evil habit which attend a 
character substantially good. And this is the meaning of the passage to which 
the Reviewer excepts (D. L. Sf W). 

Although freedom is an essential to humanity, and in its own nature liable to 
misuse and to suffering as a farther consequence ; yet we do not see the Al- 
mighty interpose forcibly to prevent this perversion of his gifts. And he who 
consciously violates the Divine Law has no right to complain if the suffering 
is proportioned to the offence. But we learn from Scripture that the misery of 
the wicked is to endure for ever. How shall we reconcile this seeming anomaly 
with the divine attributes 1 It is a poor subterfuge to say that the sins of men 
are of infinite demerit, because committed against an Infinite Being ; for then 
would our obedience be of infinite worth, because directed towards the same 
being. We can conceive of no other mode of justifying the ways of God to 
man, than to acknowledge that there is nothing arbitrary in the divine proceed- 
ings, but that the future lot of man is the natural result of the proper devel- 
opment of, or injury done to, his mental constitution while here. He who 
duly observes the laws of the animal economy, is rewarded by the orderly 
state of his frame, of which health, or freedom from pain, is the exponent. 
And what are the divine laws but the annunciation of a method, by Him who 
made and knows our spiritual frame, which, if systematically pursued will lead 



DR. PONDS HEVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 81 

to the symmetry and health of the soul — of which happiness is at once the in- 
dex and the fruit. According as either system of law is habitually and know- 
ingly violated, a principle of disorder is introduced into the man which works 
out its inevitable issue in the dimimition of the individual's capacity for bodily 
health or mental happiness. And surely this view better comports with the at- 
tributes of divine mercy and justice, than that which represents Him as be- 
stowing His rewards without reference to character, or as delighting in ven- 
geance^ as inflicting pain in an endless hell of natural fire, and the picture 
heightened by all the incredible and ridiculous horrors conjured up by the imagi- 
nations of malignant monks. It is also more reasonable, in that it suppresses 
both presumptuous hopes and idle fears, while nothing can be more truly ter- 
' rible to the reflecting than the idea of such a retribution from which there is 
no escape. We know full well that there is much in the language of Scrip- 
ture which would seem to militate against this position, but we also know, 
that there is still more in the same volume, which, if duly pondered, would 
prevent the reader from laying such dishonorable imputations on his Maker, 
as are necessarily involved in the literal interpretation of the former. And the 
latter are so repeated and so emphatic, as if introduced particularly to guard 
against such an error. A wise and benevolent parent prescribes prudential 
rules for the conduct of his child, amiexes a penalty to their violation, uses 
the language of menace when nothing less will restrain the blind and selfish pas- 
sions of youth, and administers correction in case of aberration from the stand- 
ard. How natural in the latter, when he has offended and incurs the sentence, 
to suppose that his parent is angry, and takes pleasure in punishment, when, 
in all he does, he is really actuated by the spirit of love. And then how are 
such plain declarations as these to be evaded: "Beware, your sin will find you 
out;' " My strength faileth because of mine iniquities," « They have gone over 
my head," " Evil pursueth sinners, shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him, 
shall slay the wicked,'' " Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not 
be burnt : or go upon coals and his feet not be burnt ; whoso doeth this de- 
stroyed his own soul," "He that sinneth agamst me wrongeth his own soul,[ 
"Therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own 
devices," "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be 
Jwlden with the cords of his sins P- " A wounded spirit who can bear," " Woe unto 
the souls of the wicked, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves," " Oh Israel 
thou hast destroyed thyself" " Your iniquities have separated between you and your 
God," " But wisdom's words are life imto those that find them, and health to all 
their flesh," " Say ye to the righteous . . well . . for they shall eat the fruit of 
their doings," And " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," " Fury is 
not hi me," " I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked 
turn from his way and live."* Now when such solemn annunciations as 
these are set in array against a class of passages hi which a Calvhiist most 
delights, which must yield ? for both cannot be literally true. Let reason, hu- 
manity, and a proper reverence for the character of the Deity, decide. 

*Num. xxxii. 23; Ps. xxxi. 10 ; xxxviii. 4; Prov. xiii. 21 ; Ps. clx. 11 ; xxxiv. 21 ; Prov 
vi. 27, 28, 32; viii. 3(5; i. 31; v. 22; xviii. 14; Isa. iii. 9; Ho?, xiii. 9; Isa. 'lis. 2- 
Prey. iv. 22; Isa. iii, 10; Gal. vi. 8; Isa. xxvii. 4; Ez. xxxiii. 11. 

7 



82 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

(10.) As infinite wisdom, then, has not seen fit to immake the victims of sin 
and folly, could infinite goodness do less than to provide a place of refuge for 
those unhappy beings, with their like, who, having in their day of probation, 
deliberately said, " Evil, be thou my God," " Self, be thou my divinity," have 
thereby rendered themselves incapable of the joys of heaven ? The Lord may 
permit such to be cast down, without casting them down himself. But we 
might infer that even this was generally unnecessary, for such do " call on the 
rocks and mountains to fall on and hide them from the face of the Lamb" (Rev. vi. 
15-17.) And do we not daily witness analogous scenes on earth — the reckless, 
flying from the sober joys of virtuous society — the rude shunning the company 
of the refined 1 If God is a being " without passions'" as the Confession of Faith 
teaches, how can he literally take vengeance on the lost % 

(11.) For the same reason, if the works of the righteous dead "do follow 
them;' and if he that was unjust is unjust still (Rev. xiv. 13 ; xxii. 11), the pun- 
ishment of the latter can have no other motive than the restraint of the offender. 
The evil receive according to the things done in the body, because the habits 
formed here, inhere in them there, and produce their natural effects, sin being 
thus its own punishment. 

(12.) If his " tender mercies are over all his works," must not even the lost 
be embraced by it ? And may it not operate to mitigate their torments and 
prevent their making each other as miserable as their dispositions would 
prompt * The long-lost Book of Enoch has been recovered, and the Apocry- 
phal tale it contains, and to which Judges (vi.) refers by way of accommoda- 
tion (as Paul sometimes alludes to Greek customs and writings for illustration), 
prove no such doctrine as is generally found in it. And this the Reverend right well 
knew. For this is so clearly demonstrated in Noble's Appeal (pp. 302-306), one 
of the books he has "pondered," that no man of proper self-respect, unless he 
was hopelessly stupid, would ever think of citing that text again for such a 
purpose, after having read that argument. 

(13.) Wise men have thought it a peculiar attribute of the Almighty, that 
He alone "never slumbers or sleeps." And though all finite beings must 
at intervals be reduced to that state of unconsciousness, which we call " sleep," 
yet the perturbed slumbers of the lost, may be conceived as anything else 
than the tranquil rest of the happy. And this also is satisfactorily explained in 
the same volume (p. 306) • but the effort to galvanise objections already 
strangled, is a part of this writer's system. 

(14.) Mr. Hartwell Home, says : " That vice weakens the understanding, 
infatuates the judgment, and hinders it from discerning between truth and 
falsehood, especially in matters of morality and religion, is a truth not more con- 
stantly affirmed in the Scriptures than confirmed by reason and experience 5 ' 
(Introduction I., Chap. III., Sec. 4, p. 356). That the Scriptures sanction this 
idea, is apparent on its face in numerous places (as Dan. xii. 10; Hos. xiv. 9; 
John vii. 17 ; viii. 47 ; 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15 ; 2 Thes. ii. 10, 11). In accordance here- 
with, Swedenborg teaches that the spirits of the lost are insane in various de- 
grees ; and yet that many of them retain a high degree of cunning. As every 
one moreover carries with him all the states of his previous life, they are capa- 
ble of being temporarily brought into that, in which their understandings can 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 83 

perceive things as they truly are. But the intellect having been, during life, 
enslaved to their corrupt wills, they soon relapse into their habitual states of 
insanity. 

(15.) When the subjects of an earthly prince treat his laws and person with 
contempt, his anger is naturally excited, and the offender is incarcerated or 
otherwise punished. The consequences to the violator of the divine law being 
similar, similar motives are also ascribed to the Peity, to make the warning more 
impressive, and the efforts more intelligible to the fallen mind of man. Can it 
be necessary, at this day, to remind any one who is justly informed as to the 
attributes of God and the style of His Word, that there are no such feelings in 
Him ? If God were really " angry," or " vindictive," then would He be infinitely 
so ; and the Universe would be either blasted from His sight, or be prolonged 
only to glut His appetite for revenge. When once we come to reflect hereon, 
can anything short of the very opposite be predicated of a God who is Love. 
Evil is but the perversion of Good ; and the Justice of God is but His Goodness 
in effort (consistently with His wisdom), to restore what has been thus per- 
verted. Well has it been said : " Take away the Divine Love, and not physi- 
cal nature only, but the heart of the moral world would be palsied. And yet its 
effects are beneficial or malignant according to the subject on which it acts. In this 
respect it may be likened to the sun, under whose influence one plant elaborates 
nutriment for man, another poison : and which, while it draws up pestilence from 
the marsh and jungle^ and sets the Simoom in motion over the desert, diffuses 
light, life and happiness over the healthy and cultivated regions of the earth. 
The cruel Pagan naturally ascribes his own unhallowed passions to his 
imaginary deity. But the Christian's idea of God has also been corrupted by 
manichean infusions • and Dr. P. ought to know which of the Protestant sects 
has partaken most largely of the taint, and thereby comes under the reproach : 
* ; Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thyself." 

We have thus passed in review the whole of this writer's objections to 
Swedenborg's system of doctrine, although at the hazard of anticipating some 
things which might more properly be adverted to hereafter. Their weakness or 
frivolity, and the disingenuous manner in which they are urged, cannot have 
escaped the attentive reader. As the subject of doctrine is the most important, 
we have dwelt ■ftie longer thereon. The remaining objections, though yet 
more numerous, will detain us proportionally a shorter time; and happily, 
many of them can be disposed of in a few words. 



CHAPTER V. 



Dr. Pond's charge of Swedenborg's misrepresentations op doctrines and 
characters, contradictions of historical and scientific facts, and incon- 
sistencies with himself; met and refuted. 

We enter now on a New Series of Objections, some of which may be regard .> 
ed as the natural pendants of those which have already been considered. 
Others are different and new, and, as we think, such as could only have oc- 



84 A LAYMAN^S REPLY TO 

curred to a mind of the calibre of this Reviewer's. They all, however, ques- 
tion the accuracy of Swedenborg's statements on the several subjects to which 
they relate. Thus he is accused of misrepresenting the doctrines and characters 
of others, both individuals and churches : of contradicting well established 
facts of istory, and of science ; and of being inconsistent with himself in numer- 
ous particulars. Grave charges, truly, against one of his pretensions ! and some 
of them not very "consistent" with the character accorded to him by this very 
writer — that of being " a man of learning," " a gentleman," "moral," " religious," 
and " sincere /" Let us see if he can make them good. 

And first as to the matter of " misrepresentation," of which he specifies some 
ten or more instances. Thus (1.) Swedenborg has said that " the Tripersonalists 
of his day believed in three Gods. (2.) That Tritheism is virtually taught in the 
Athanasian Creed. (3.) That the Protestant Churches " make God three, and 
the Lord two, and place salvation, not in amendment of life, but in certain 
words breathed out in a devout tone of voice," &c. (4.) That he "profanely 
ridicules" the Tripersonal faith. (5.) That the Reformed Churches teach "that 
man, in his conversion, is like a stock or a statue, and that he cannot so much 
as accommodate and apply himself to receive grace." (6.) That the dogma of 
Predestination is derived from the former, and gave rise in its turn to that of 
the " arbitrary imputation of the merit of Christ." Those who believe these two 
doctrines, of course, do not regard a holy life as a means of escape from the 
decree of Reprobation. (7.) That he caricatures the doctrine of Redemption, as 
held in the Reformed Churches. (8.) That he charges " the believers in Justi- 
fication by Faith alone" with being negligent of the Christian life, and averse 
to " self-examination." (9.) That the Reformed, like the Catholics, teach that 
the understanding is to be kept in subjection to Faith. (10.) That " Luther 
established Solifidianism 5" and (11.) That Calvin taught what all the world 
knows he did. 

(1.) And first we ask, "what is a Person ?" Do we not hereby understand a 
separate and distinct, embodied, individual being, — and that a human being, as 
distinguished from a thing ? The term in its origin iriay have had a different 
signification ; but can any one deny that this is what is universally implied in 
its present use, and has been for ages past ? He then who confirms himself in 
the notion that God exists in three separate, distinct, individual beings — what- 
ever he may say to the contrary — has an idea of three Gods in his mind ; and in 
the other life, where all disguises must ultimately be thrown off, it will so ap- 
pear, as Swedenborg declares is actually the case. And is not this the very 
objection which has ever been urged by Jews, Mahometans, Unitarians, Deists, 
Infidels, Philosophers, Indifferentists, against what is held forth as the " Ortho- 
dox" faith ? And when the imputation is disclaimed, do not all these parties 
add the charge of disingenuousness, to that of absurdity % Thousands who have 
renounced this article of their inherited faith, confess to the truth of the state- 
ment, and solemnly declare that they know of multitudes more in the same 
predicament, who honestly own it in private, but swallow it without chewing 
as being " a mystery." 

(2.) A translation of the Athanasian Creed is now before me, and a j^art of 
t reads thus : — " For as we are obliged by the Christian verity, to acknowledge 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 85 

every person by himself to be God and Lord, yet are we forbidden by the Cath- 
olic Religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords. " The Catholic Prayer- 
book, entitled " The Garden of the Soul," renders it thus — " For as we are com- 
pelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every person, particularly, to be 
God and Lord; so," &c. by which precisely the same idea is conveyed. 
Swedenborg acknowledged that this Creed was ambiguous, and that the last 
sentence in it was susceptible of a true sense, — but that the impression left by 
the whole was either contradictory, — or suggestive of three Gods ; (an objection 
by no means peculiar to him but urged a thousand times before, and its truth 
acknowledged by many who have subscribed it) ; and hi particular that the 
sentence above quoted, places the Catholic Religion in opposition to Christian 
Truth, and inculcates the hypocrisy of holding one opinion and saying ano- 
ther ! When, therefore, the Lecturer asserts that " the doctrine of one God is as 
integral a part of the doctrine of the Trinity — (of course in his sense of this 
term) — as is that of three persons in one God," we have only to reply that an 
unsophisticated mind can scarcely conceive of a greater contradiction than 
that between the first and the last part of the sentence. Dr. P. professes to 
believe in one God — and that a personal God as distinguished from the faith of 
the Pantheist, or of certain Unitarians who acknowledge an impersonal " some- 
what." But if this one personal God be further subdivided into three persons, — 
what is this but saying that three persons are one person ! 

(3.) We have just seen that Protestant Churches make God three. The Con- 
fession of Faith says that in the second person of the Trinity when incarnate, 
'■two whole and perfect natures, the God-head and manhood, were inseparably 
joined together hi one person, without conversion, composition or confusion" 
(Chap. VIII., Sec. 2). Is not this "making the Lord two ?" They furthermore 
do believe hi " Justification by Faith alone,'''' in instantaneous regeneration, hi the 
saving virtue of a death-bed repentance : and do not make a good life indispen- 
sable to salvation. And the proof of this could be as readily brought, as of the 
other. 

(4.) The following statement from Swedenborg is given as a specimen of 
profane ridicule. '• ; The absurd, ludicrous and frivolous ideas which have 
arisen from the doctrine of three persons from eternity, and which arise with 
every one who remains in the belief of the words of that doctrine, and from 
eyes and ears rise up into the sight of the thought, are these : That God the 
Father sits above the head on high, and the Son at his right hand, and the 
Holy Ghost before them listening, and forthwith running all over the world ; 
and according to their decision, he dispenses the gifts of justification, and in- 
scribes them and makes them, from sons of wrath, sons of grace, and from 
condemned, elect. I appeal to the learned of the clergy and of the laity, whe- 
ther they entertain any other than this ideal view in their minds.' And I 
appeal to learned Trinitarians, the world over, whether they ever entertained 
such a view as this." 1 Fortunately we are not left to conjecture in this matter. 
The paintings in Catholic Churches, and books of devotion, in English prayer 
books, the tenor of innumerable expositions and controversies concerning the 
Trinity, and the honest confession of Protestants when off their guard, the world 
over, place it beyond a doubt. M. Didron, a. French writer, in a recent work 



86 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

on what he calls " Christian Iconography,"* has traced back these " artistic 
representations of the Trinity," through many centuries, and they were common 
to the whole Catholic World. The doctrine of the Trinity being accepted by 
the Reformers entire ; they have inherited the same conceptions. Dr. P. may 
use a pious fraud and deny it. But there is One who knows the heart, and 
readeth the thoughts, and who cannot be deceived. 

(5.) The "slander" here consists in quotations direct from the "Formula Con- 
cordia" (Br. Ex. 15). And what says the Confession of Faith % "Man, by h£s 
fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good ac- 
companying salvation : so that as a natural man being altogether averse from that 
which is good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert him- 
self or to prepare himself thereunto?'' And in effectual calling " man is altogether 
passive" (Chap. IX., Sec. 3, and Chap. X., Sec. 2). And though free-will is 
asserted in one or two places, it is positively or virtually denied in a score of 
others. Its contradictions we are not bound to reconcile. The sensual are 
much more likely to avail themselves of its fatalism to justify themselves in 
their evil courses, than to believe in the sincerity of its warnings or exhorta- 
tions. 

(6.) If men can thus be brought to believe that the entire race is under both 
condemnation and moral paralysis — possessing power neither to will aright, nor 
to co-operate with their Maker towards their salvation, without the special aid 
of the Holy Spirit; what other mode of escape can they conceive for the few 
who are rescued, but by the tender mercy of "Predestination'?" And if the 
whole " family of Adam," except themselves are totally depraved, is it not natu- 
ral that they should also fancy that the merits of Christ are imputed to the elect 
by the same arbitrary will 1 The impossibility of this may be demonstrated to 
them • but what of that? The broad mantle of mystery will cover all. There 
was one paragraph in this connection, which we read with special surprise, as 
being probably the coolest instance of effrontery, in the entire volume. " The 
believers in predestination, according to Swedenborg, represent God as having- 
; designed that the bulk of mankind should be born for hell — born devoted to 
destruction — born to be devils and satans f and that he ' makes no provision for 
those who lead good lives, and acknowledge God, whereby they may escape ever- 
lasting fire and punishment.' ' Some hold,' says he, ' that the life is of no effect, 
but election / and that redemption into heaven is of mercy alone, whatever the 
life may have been? " It should be printed " acknowledge (a) God." Now we 
do not care to press ungenerously the advantage afforded us by the impru- 
dence of Dr. P. in bringing this subject so conspicuously forward. We would 
willingly have given it the go-by, as we are happy to know that this dogma r 
although it retains its place in the Public Creeds, as held in private, is greatly 
modified from its original grossness since Swedenborg wrote. The whole 
body of Arminians, otherwise sufficiently Orthodox, have repudiated it, with 
all its horrible consequences. And many of those who subscribe to it are 
heartily ashamed of it, and would gladly have it expunged from their " stand- 



* The curious may see a Review of it in the " Christian Examiner," for November, 1846. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 87 

ards," if they knew how it could be effected without endangering their whole 
system. In truth, it is the hardest doctrine to compliment in the whole Con- 
fession of Faith ; and that is saying a good deal. Dr. Porter complains, as we 
have seen, that it is but rarely preached now-a-days ; and Dr. Woods, who 
probably felt bound to say a word in its behalf, used a very strong one indeed, 
but touched it as rapidly as if it had been red-hot iron. We wonder that some 
kind friend did not touch the elbow of our Bangor Professor, while writing, and 
warn him not to give " such cruel openings to the critics." We would willingly 
oblige our Evangelical friends in anything reasonable, but it is rather too much 
to ask us to forget the whole History of the Reformation, the various Protestant 
Confessions, the Articles of Doctrine, the writings of Calvin and his followers, the 
sermons we have heard, the tracts we have read, and the Catechisms we have 
studied, or that there have been, and are, such people as Antinomians in the 
Avorld. And if we should be so complaisant, these documents are extant, and 
there are others who would overhaul them. 

But badinage apart. Swedenborg has set forth some of the known pecu- 
liarities of Calvinists, in the broad language of their advocates from whom the re- 
straints of the flesh were removed, and has therefore been charged with calumny. 
We might quote from the older Calvinists, even stronger language than that of 
Swedenborg ; but, setting aside the opinions of private Doctors, does this Re- 
viewer believe the Confession of Faith which he has subscribed ? And what 
does that teach ? (1.) The election of a particular and unalterable number 
(Chap. III., Sec. 3, 4, 5) — to whom are confined " the benefits of Redemption," 
such as " Effectual Calling," " the gift of the Spirit to renew their wills," pardon, 
reconciliation, justification, forgiveness of sins, adoption, faith ; all exclusively 
bestowed on that number, which is " so certain and definite, that it can neither 
be increased or diminished !" (Chap. III., Sec. 6 ; VII., 3 ; VIII., 1, 5 ; X., 1 ; XI., 
1, 3, 4, 5 ; XII ; XIV., 1). (2.) The certain salvation of the elect, though they 
may often be "grievous sinners" (XVII., 1, 3 ; XVIII., 4). (3.) The loss of the 
* ; non-elect," though virtuous (III., 4; X., 4; XVI., 7). According to this faith 
the great majority, even in Christian countries, are consigned ever to reproba- 
tion ; and if you would know its tender mercies to the Heathen, hearken to the 
following response in the Larger Catechism (Q. 60): "They who having never 
heard the Gospel, know not Jesus Christ, and believe not in him, cannot he saved, 
be iluy never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature, or the laws 
of that religion they profess ;" and in the Confession it is added, " to assert and 
maintain that they may, ?'.s very pernicious, and to be detested /" Think now of the 
virtuous indignation of this Reviewer, in repelling the charge that " the bulk 
of mankind," in the opinion of Predestinarians, " are born for hell, whatever 
may have been their lives !" 

(7.) The " caricature" is as follows : " What at this day more fills and crams 
the books of the orthodox, or what is more zealously taught and inculcated in 
the schools, or more frequently preached and proclaimed from the pulpits, 
than that God the Father, being arrayed against the human race, not only re- 
moved it from himself, but also concluded it under a universal damnation, and 
thus excommunicated it: but because he is gracious, that he persuaded or 
excited his Son to descend, and take upon himself the determined damnation 



88 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

and thus appease the anger of his Father ; and that thus, and not otherwise 
he could look upon man with some favor." Though the style of preaching in 
New England, among the Orthodox themselves, is revolutionized within half a 
century, yet is there a man in the Southern or Western States who has been 
in the habit of attending Calvinistic pulpits, that has not heard the substance 
of this paragraph, times without number % Before Swedenborg wrote, it was 
the burden of orthodox preachers throughout the Reformed Churches, particu- 
larly in England, Scotland, and America, and this no one knows better than the 
Reviewer. 

(8.) If the believers in "justification by faith alone," reason consequentially, 
and there will be no lack of logical deductions from " the principles of one's 
religion" when they lead to agreeable conclusions ; if they can do nothing of 
themselves, and if salvation be altogether an affair of election, why should 
they trouble themselves about obedience to the commands, or perform the 
irksome duty of self-examination ? Do they not confess their sins in the gross ? 
Is not the debt paid? and shall they symbolise with Rome by imitating the 
confessional? The licentious tendency of this dogma was early seen and 
lamented by observing Protestants after the Reformation. The havoc it pro- 
duced in three centuries, who can calculate ? The extreme relaxation of 
public morals in the last age, the low standard of Christian character, the 
notorious neglect of this very duty, even at this day, among Protestants, are a 
full justification of Swedenborg's statement. That there are symptons of ap- 
proximation to a purer faith and a more consistent life among Christians at 
the present time, it gives us pleasure to believe ; though there is yet much to 
be learnt and done, before the religion of the Bible can have its due influence 
either on its votaries or on those without. 

(9.) If the Orthodox are really permitted to think freely on all points of their 
faith, why are so many of them, nay its fundamental principles "tabued," and 
wrapt in a sacred veil of mystery ? 

(10.) We suspect there are Lutherans at the present day who would be 
greatly obliged to Dr. Pond if he would prove to their satisfaction that the 
founder of their church did not teach the doctrine of " Faith alone." If he did 
not establish it as a part of the Protestant Faith, then is he the most calumniated 
of men and every extant history of the Reformation is a romance. Whatever 
of an opposite character may be found in other parts of his works, they are 
said to contain the following passages. "Let this be your rule in interpreting 
the Scriptures : wherever they command any good work do you understand 
that they forbid it ; because you cannot perform it."* " God works the evil in us as 
well as the good. . . The great perfection of faith consists in believing God 
to be just, although by his own will, He necessarily renders us worthy of 
damnation, so as to seem to take pleasure in the torments of the miserable."f 
" A Christian cannot lose his soul do what he will, unless he refuse to believe 
for no sin can damn but unbelief. God regards not our actions, nor what we may 
choose to do. "J " Sin lustily, but be yet more lusty in faith and rejoice in 

* De Jew Arbit. + Opera, torn. 2,fol. 43.7. % De Captiv. Bahyi. torn. 2„faL 264. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 89 

Christ. From him no sin will sever us, though a million times a day we should 
commit uncleanness and murder.'** 

That Calvin taught Election and Reprobation and the " final perseverance - ' 
of the Elect, we had supposed was pretty notorious. We have not his works 
at hand, but as Dr. P. has brought forward John Wesley as a competent witness 
on another occasion, we would take leave to refer him to a tract by that 
author, entitled " A Dialogue between a Predestinarian and his friend,"f in 
which he has culled from the pages of the Reformer and his followers Zancky, 
Piscator, Peter Martyr, Tuiss, &c. some of the choicest flowers which adorn his 
11 doctrine of grace ;" and among many others the following : " All men are 
not created for the same end : but some are foreordained to eternal life, others 
to eternal damnation.";": " God of his own good pleasure ordains that many 
should be born, who are from the womb doomed to inevitable damnation. . . 
He therefore foreknows all things that will come to pass, because he has de- 
creed that they shall come to pass."g And in his Commentary on John vi. 
he says, " God asks nothing of us but that we believe." 

It was probably the recollection of such passages that induced the Re- 
viewer to confess ;; that he would not say there was absolutely nothing in the 
faith of Protestant Christendom at the time of Swedenborg," in accordance with 
his statements. They were taken from the " Formula Concordiae," — an author- 
ized symbol of the faith of the German Churches. Dr. P. affects to think it bad 
authority, but the equivalents, as we have seen, are to be found in the West- 
minster Confession of Faith. They were once set forth by the Church of Eng- 
land in her ' ; Lambeth Articles.'" || And as to Swedenborg having " distorted" 
their views, it might be as well for their advocates to recollect, that however 
such shocking sentiments may be softened or glossed over here, it is danger- 
ous to confirm them, as in the other life they must be spoken out without re- 
serve (Matt. x. 26). (See App. A.) 

Another count in this long indictment is that " Swedenborg speaks reproach- 
fully of the Church of God." The pretended proofs are: (1.) The character 
he has given of the Jews — as a nation. He tells us that they were " natural 
men." an ' ; external people," not very capable of spiritual ideas, as was proved 
by their proneness to idolatry, despite the- frequent miracles and constant bless- 
ings of Jehovah : and that they were obstinate withal : that they were selected 
as the people of God, not because they were better than other nations, or be- 
cause there could be any such thing as favoritism in the Father of all men, but 
because their national genius fitted them for the observance of a cer£monial re- 
ligion, which might shadow forth truths of a higher order to be revealed under 
a future dispensation. Such is the extent of his offence. We disdain to argue 
such a question at any length ; for it is the very character which is given of 
them by God himself,^" and re-echoed by the Apostles of our Lord :** it is con- 

* Epist. ad Aurifab. torn. 1, 545. 

t No. 8 in a vol. of Doc. Tracts issued by the Methodist Church. 
% Inst. b. 3, c. 23, Sec. 1. § Ibid, ch. 23, Sec. G. 

|| See Buck's Theol. Diet. sub. voce. 

If Ex. xxxiii. 5; Deut. ix. 4-7, 24; xxvi. 4-10; xxxi. 27-9; Isa. i. 2-5, 13; xxx. 8; 

xlviii. 4,7, IS ; Ez. ii. 3, 4,10;xx. 25 and passim Hos. vi. 4,5; viii. 14; x. 1 ; Amos v. 23,24. 

** Matt. iii. 9 ; Rom. ii. 2S; Ez. xx. 25 comp. Actsxv. 10; Gal. v. 1 ; Acts vii. 51, 52. 



90 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

firmed by their entire history from the Exode to the present day : by the suf- 
frages of nine-tenths of mankind who know them, and its every trait is proved 
by the account of them recently given by one of themselves. And the Re- 
viewer himself has read the full confirmation of it from their own books in one 
of the volumes he has "pondered."* (See Append. B.) But this Reviewer 
calls in question the assertions of Swedenborg as to certain matters of fact — to 
which we briefly reply : (1.) That every body knows that Bishop Warburton's 
great work " The Divine Legation of Moses" was based on the idea that " it 
was not even declared to them openly that they should live after death," who 
also concurs with our author in his estimate of this nation as is proved by the 
following : " Why, let me ask, had the law a spiritual sense under a carnal cover, 
but for this reason, that the Jews were so grossly minded as to be incapable of 
spiritual things, and were therefore, in order to direct and govern their affections, pre- 
sented with the carnal to repose upon ? — that schoolmaster, as Paul calls the law, 
which was to bring them by degrees through those carnal elements to the 
spiritual and sublime doctrines of Christ."f If " they did know that the Lord 
would come into the world to save them," why did they put Jesus to death ? 
If " the mysteries of faith were really revealed to them" why did they so 
generally reject Paul's true exposition of them in his Epistle to the Hebrews ? 
And did not the Lord himself tell them that they " had made the word of God 
of none effect through their traditions ?" 

Such is the statement of Swedenborg concerning the Jews as a people. But 
that " he makes no exceptions, nor allows us to make any," is a calumny such 
as can only be found in other parts of this book. A distinction is properly ta- 
ken between the public and private character of personages mentioned in the 
Jewish history of the Old Testament — but he intimates nothing unfavorable as 
to the present state of many of the prophets and others who are therein com- 
mended for their zeal in behalf of the true worship. The Apostles and many 
of the early Christians were Jews. He expressly declares that the former are 
among the blessed. It is well known that there are two classes of Hebrews, 
to one of whom — the Portuguese, for example — is conceded a marked superior- 
ity over their brethren from other regions, and a frequent exemption from their 
peculiar prejudices. In the " intermediate state" — which Swedenborg declares 
is the place of instruction for the well-disposed, who, being unfavorably situated 
while here for attaining to true religious knowledge, give it a ready welcome 
on their arrival there — he further informs us that of these there are whole 
Synagogues who become converted to the true Christian Faith, and that the 
process is constantly going on (L. J. Cor. 79, 80 ; T. C. R. 841, 842). There are 
moreover Jews in England, and on the Continent of Europe — in America and 
the West Indies — who have adopted the principles of Swedenborg, which they 
would scarcely have done if they had thought that he belied their nation. 

(2.) What constitutes a Church % Do temples and worshipers and an or- 
ganized priesthood who preach a particular doctrine to their followers 1 These 
things may indicate a Religion, but not necessarily a Church. The doctrine of 
a true Church should itself be true : true, not only as revealed originally from 

* Noble's Plen. Insp App. V. f Div. Leg. B. VI. Vol. III. 324, 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 91 

the source of Truth, but as having been kept pure. But we learn from past 
history, that churches are not always true to their trust. The Jews utterly cor- 
rupted the doctrine committed to their charge and apostatized, whereby their 
Church came to an end — though it has continued as a religion to the present 
time. But further, man is a progressive bemg. The modicum of religious 
truth which might suffice for his instruction in the early periods of his history, 
would be utterly inadequate to his wants in the more advanced stages of his 
progress. In this aspect, one dispensation may be simply a preparation for 
another. " Had the Jewish Church continued faithful to their covenant, yet 
then dispensation bemg only preparatory, would have ceased at the institu- 
tion of Christianity. . . Not that the truths it taught should cease, for this 
would be impossible, but they would have been regarded simply as elementary 
in relation to the higher truth or greater degree of light which had succeeded'' 
(Clissold). And might not the same with propriety be said of the first Chris- 
tian Church. The fundamentals of all true religion are the acknowledgment 
of a God, and a life according to his commandments ; but what God ? It is 
natural that man should desire to know the Divinity he worships. The prim- 
itive Christians had believed in simplicity that in Jesus Christ the Father 
dwelt, with whom he was one ; and sought not to explain how, because he had 
declared to his disciples, and through them to the Church, " that he had many 
things to say to them which they could not then bear, but that the time would 
come when he would show them plainly of the Father." This promise of him 
who is faithful and true cannot fail. When fulfilled there must of course be 
an addition to, and in that respect a change in the doctrine of his Church, even 
if they had preserved and made a proper use of what was first imparted. But 
alas ! he also predicted that they too would prove unfaithful. Not content to 
wait with patience until they had made themselves worthy the explanation, 
and He should vouchsafe it, they strove to "work it out by their own self-de- 
rived intelligence. In Council and Synod they divided or multiplied their 
God hito three persons ; and as this was an unintelligible mystery, they made 
a great merit of believing it. They mistook also the nature and kind of obe- 
dience required. At a later day, as faith in a temporal God and the other dog- 
mas which by this time had been added thereto, required a still greater effort 
they made it so very meritorious as to be well nigh a substitute for all other 
obedience. The progress of error is by slow and sometimes imperceptible de- 
grees. But when once the Church has departed from either of the fundamen- 
tal principles laid down above, it is impossible to foresee the extent of her ab- 
erations. Questions innumerable arose in the course of centuries and were 
discussed without leading to satisfactory conclusions, or without one of them 
being determined. The sad history of strife, and heresy, and schism, and sub- 
division without end, and the consequent uncertainty and darkness which 
brooded over the entire field of doctrine, we need not recapitulate. 

How is this disgraceful and calamitous scene to be brought to a close. The 
sword in the hands of a Mahomet might settle the question for Orientals, but 
not for Europeans or their descendants. It is not probable or desirable that we 
shall see either a general return of nations under the Roman yoke, or continued 
submission to religions selected or made by the authorities of States. Is mere 



92 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

/earning to reconcile parties, by showing the errors of all ? Germany has 
pretty well proved the futility of such a hope. Is religious freedom and the 
right of inquiry and discussion to effect the object 1 Look abroad over the 
face of the country. Here we have " the largest liberty ;" but alas! the au- 
thoritative religion, and the political religions, and the dissenting religions, 
have all been imported, and propagated, and multiplied, and divided, and the 
rank soil has shot up a few indigenous ones of its own, until it has come to 
be said that " if any man on earth has lost his religion and will come to the 
United States, he may chance to find it." And what are we to hope from con 
troversy as growing out of the mutual collision of opinion among these several 
bodies ! Such collision is inevitable, and without doubt, if the differences be 
moderated by a spirit of charity and a love of truth for its own sake, some 
truth would be elicited and the evils we deplore be much mitigated. But who 
that know anything of the Sectarian feeling and of the spirit of party when 
brought into religious concerns, hopes for so favorable a result, especially 
when the various champions can often bring nothing but probable reasons for 
their several opinions % " The Church in general," says Mr. Clissold, " I be- 
lieve, under her present circumstances, has no hope of the disputes being ter- 
minated. Occasionally they seem to die away, but only with renewed vigor to 
re-appear. The same discussions occur over and over again, upon gabellian- 
ism, Tritheism, and Arianism ; the same upon the doctrine of satisfaction, im- 
putation, repentance, justification by faith, and goods works ; the same upon pre- 
destination, baptism, transubstantiation, and every other doctrine; questions 
which are no more settled now than when they first originated. Hence we are 
reminded of the observation of the Rev. John Newton, " I see the unprofita- 
bleness of controversy in the case of Job and his friends ; for if God had not 
interposed, and they had lived to this day, they would have continued the dispute:' 
May we not pray that God should interpose ?"* 

We rejoice to believe that he has. In the nature of things there can be but 
one true system of doctrine, which of necessity excludes whatever is not con- 
gruous with itself. Emanuel Swedenborg, as we are satisfied on the most de- 
liberate inquiry, was enabled to trace that system in the Scriptures and to de- 
clare it to the world. In comparing therewith the different systems which 
were taught in the various churches in Christendom, he stated the simple fact 
that there was not a single truth of the word- which had not been more or less 
corrupted by them. He also announced the farther fact, which could be 
known to him only of all men, that that church had been adjudged, and had 
spiritually come to an end ! and that it must in time be succeeded by a New 
Christian Church. Now with whatever incredulity this may have been re- 
ceived at the time, subsequent events have led many a thoughtful mind to be- 
lieve it not improbable. Many of these considerations are brought together in 
a particular section of Noble's Appeal-^-but with his usual honesty Dr. P. takes 
special care to notice none of them. And in pretending to restate what Swe- 
denborg has said on this subject, he has excelled himself in his efforts to ex- 
cite the odium of his brethren against him and his followers, and asks indig- 

* End of the Church, p. 419. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 93 

naiitly " Are these things so ? Has the church, which Christ and his Apostles 
instituted, been spiritually overthrown, for almost a hundred years ? During 
all this time, has Christ had no real, spiritual church in the world, except the 
little handful of Swedenborgians 1 There are church organizations and ordi- 
nances indeed ; but are they, and have they been, mere dead forms % Has 
all spiritual life and holiness — ■everything which goes to give vitality and 
energy to a church, ceased ?" " He will not degrade himself, forsooth, nor 
his profession by undertaking to answer these questions !" but subjects him- 
self to the greater reproach of designing to produce a false impression by 
omitting all the explanations with which the author has accompanied his 
statement. Does Swedenborg attach exclusive blame to the Christians of his 
day for the errors of their faith ? How could he ? They did not make their 
creeds. It was their misfortune rather than their fault that they were born 
under such a system ; and is he therefore their enemy because he was com- 
missioned to tell them the truth, and to offer them a better 1 Does he predict 
that the old organizations will be immediately overthrown ! On the contrary 
he declares that ;i the state of the world hereafter will be quite similar to what 
it has been heretofore, for the great change which has been effected in the 
spiritual world, does not induce any change in the natural world as regards 
the outward form : so that the affairs of states, peace, treaties, and wars, with 
all other things which belong to societies of men, in general, and in particular, 
will exist in the future, just as they existed in the past." ..." But as for the 
state of the church., this it is which will be dissimilar hereafter; it will be similar 
indeed in the outward form, but dissimilar in the inward. To outward appearance 
divided churches will exist as heretofore, their doctrines will be taught as heretofore ; 
and the same religions as now, will exist among the Gentiles. But henceforth 
the man of the chmch will be in a more free state of thinking on matters of faith, 
that is on spiritual things which relate to heaven, because spiritual liberty has 
been restored to him.' 1 . . . u I have had various converse with the angels, con- 
cerning the state of the church hereafter. They said that things to come they 
know not, for that the knowledge of things to come belongs to the Lord alone 
but that they do know that the slavery and captivity in which the man of the 
church was formerly, is removed, and that now, from restored liberty, he can 
better perceive interior truths, if he wills to perceive them, and thus be made 
more internal if he wills it ; but that still they have slender hope of the men 
of the Christian church 7 ' (L. J. 73, 74). When this prediction of the advent of 
spiritual liberty was first written, there were no outward indications of its ap- 
proach. But we presume the most sceptical would scarcely doubt it now. 
It appears also that a long time may pass before the various systems of error 
shall be abandoned. But does Swedenborg intimate that thenceforth there 
would be no spiritual Christians but his own professed followers % At that 
time they had not been organized. Truth is certainly not a thing indifferent, 
and should exist in purity somewhere in the world ; and he has also shown 
us how the church which teaches it may be the medium of a good influence, 
to others without the latter being aware of the channel through which it flows. 
He assures us moreover that no one will be condemned for mere error of the 
head : for mistakes, or false opinions, imbued by the force of inevitable cir- 



94 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

cumstances — unless they be appropriated and confirmed, or carried out into 
the life. The true church consists of all who " ackowledge the Lord" and 
" have the word" and live according to its requirements (H. D. 242, 245). And 
even others — Mahometans and heathens — all of whom Dr. P. sends to perdi- 
tion — will be admitted to all the happiness of which they are capable — if they 
have lived up to the light they possess. The good which Protestants have is 
from the word, which they read and study more than their creeds — the which 
last multitudes never read at all as this Reviewer very well knows ; or if they 
do, they take the liberty of dissenting from many parts of them and pass light- 
ly over others as mysteries. 



(3.) In the Memorable Relations of Swedenborg we read that in the exercise 
of his privilege of intercourse with the departed, he was permitted interviews 
with the celebrated Reformers, Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin. He declares 
it to be a law of heaven that all fundamental error must be surrendered before the hold- 
er can be admitted within its pale ; and that until this clog is removed, whatever 
may have been the previous character of the individual, he is detained in the 
world of spirits. Of the two former he relates that the dogma of justification by 
faith alone, which they had made the fundamental principle of their religion, 
had become so deeply inrooted in their very spirits that they found it extremely 
difficult to be divested of it : that the process was slow and attended at times 
with severe suffering — though there was hope that they would ultimately 
yield up this very serious error, and justify the past hopes and expectations of 
all Protestants as to their admission to the society of the blessed. Of the third, 
who, it is feared, had confirmed himself in the still more dreadful idea of Pre- 
destination, and resolved all religious truth into that one principle, his account is 
yet more unfavorable, though he does not inform us that this is his final desti- 
nation. 

The indignation of our Reviewer on this occasion, as was to be expected, is 
stirred up to its depths. It is evident also that he thinks the game is all his 
own. So very sure is he of the effect of the narrative, that he gives it with 
but few of his embellishments and leaves the prejudices of the reader to make 
their own comments. The distinguished career of each of these individuals 
in connexion with a religious revolution which has remotely given to society 
the form and pressure they wear at present, has entrenched their memories so 
strongly in the regard of Protestants generally, that if any reputations could 
be placed beyond contingency, it might be supposed to be theirs. However 
painful then, or unexpected the disclosure, is that alone a sufficient reason for 
doubting its truth ? It is not for Dr. P. to deny the possibility of such inter- 
views. The presumption certainly is that they occurred ; for nothing would 
be more natural than that Swedenborg should employ his peculiar gift to as- 
certain the destiny of the reputed Reformers of Religion. And having done 
so, what motive had he to misstate the result % If his proceeding in relation 
hereto had been left in any degree to his own discretion, the most ordinary 
prudence would have led him to make as favorable a report as possible and 
to suppress whatever might disturb the sensibilities of his followers. Luther- 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 95 

anism was the established religion of Sweden and of the greater part of Protest- 
ant Germany. The father of Swedenborg was a Lutheran : he was nominally 
one himself. Melancthon was the coadjutor of Luther. His statement then 
must needs offend the prejudices of thousands besides his own countrymen. 
And yet he committed it to writing. Supposing it to be true, can Dr. P. think 
that the followers of Swedenborg would take any 'pleasure in reading such a 
narrative ? They must have hardened their hearts into all the sternness of 
Calvinism before they could learn otherwise than with pain that men who 
had purged off many of the corruptions of Rome, and were otherwise useful 
in restoring religious freedom, and the word of life to the laity — should never- 
theless have employed pious frauds and inculcated fearful errors — some of 
them worse than those they rejected 1 Without forgetting then that Sweden- 
borg has spoken hopefully of the final state of the two first, and that it was 
with surprise and regret he learned the condition of the third ; if he could 
have been guilty of the crime of slandering the distinguished dead, why we 
ask, did he not include in his libels others both Protestants and Romanists, 
whose views are quite as much or more opposed to his own than those of 
the leading Reformers ? But the supposition is refuted by the character which 
the Reviewer himself has accorded to him. As " a gentleman" Swedenborg 
would have spurned the thought in either case ; as a " moral" man he would 
not have dared to stain his conscience Avith such an offence : as one who " re- 
ligious" and " sincere" he would have shrunk from the suggestion with 
horror. 

But let us look a little more narrowly at the character of these men, and see 
if the narrative is so very improbable after all. Posterity claims and exercises 
the right to pass in review the conduct of all without exception ; and the 
lapse of three centuries should in this case be favorable to a dispassionate 
judgment. Does Dr. Pond with all his inherited respect for their names — con- 
firmed as that may have been by his own independent inquiry — believe that 
either of them was perfect or infallible — a Saint or a Pope % It is possible, in 
the abstract, for a man to hold and preach true doctrine without imbibing its 
spirit or exemplifying it in his life ; and was there not something in the acts 
and opinions of each and of all which no charity could overlook, no sophistry 
excuse ? Luther did establish the doctrine of " faith alone," and Melancthon 
aided him in the enterprise. All amiable and mild as he was, he subdued his 
own superior intellect, and bent his will almost to the degree of merging his 
individuality in that of his imperious leader — and having thus become a par- 
taker of his offences, he could not escape a like retribution. Luther had pith- 
ily said, " that the mind of man was like a drunken peasant on horseback ; prop 
him up on one side and he will tumble over on the other." Can we find in all 
history a better exemplification of the truth of his adage than himself? He 
was familiar with the ceremonial works of the Romanists ; was aware that 
multitudes placed their hopes of salvation on a compliance with these forms. 
Being bent on separating from a system so corrupting, nothing more effective 
of that purpose occurred to his impetuous zeal than the establishment of the 
opposite doctrine — however clearly paradoxical to unprejudiced minds. If any 
part of Scripture stood in his path, he would evade its force, pervert the Ian- 



96 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

guage of Paul, reject the Epistle of James as an Epistle of straw, until by an 
after-thought — the fallacy of which is clear to the observation of every man 
of sense — he endeavored to patch up an appearance of consistency between 
his own systems and the obstinate declarations of the sacred text, with the 
gratuitous assertion " that a true faith necessarily produces good works." That 
Luther's peculiar opinions were either his own fond fancies or mere pretexts 
for separation from Rome, may also be inferred from the fact that they are now 
generally abandoned in his own country, and in the churches which are called 
by his name ; after having arrested the Reformation, thrown all Europe into an 
uproar, and done infinite injury both to morals and religion. Dr. P. may dismiss 
the idea of inconsistency in Swedenborgs account of Calvin. They appeared ill 
two different works, published with an interval of eight years. The last (T. C. 
R. 796-798) describes his several and successive states during his long stay in 
the intermediate world. The first speaks of the third stage (Con. L. J. 54,) (the 
only one then known to Swedenborg,) in which he was admitted into a certain 
society of the lower heaven, " because he appeared well-disposed and made no 
disturbances:' 1 His real character was afterwards developed. And should any 
one who reflects on the authenticated facts of this man's history be surprised 
at such a denouement ? His imperious temper, his intolerance of all opposition 
which threatened serious rivalship, his disingenuous treatment of opponents, 
have been noticed by others. It might be in bad taste to recal the oft-repeat- 
ed story of his unrepented persecution of Servetus ; for we take no pleasure 
in this species of retort. But there were circumstances connected with that 
affair which are but little known in the Republic of Letters, but which have an 
especial bearing on this controversy, and to which we feel bound to advert. 
It was not alone that Calvin — inflamed with resentment that he had been 
worsted in argument by Servetus — threatened that if the latter ever came to 
Geneva he should not leave it alive : that he is believed to have instigated the 
trial of the Spaniard for heresy in a French town : or that Servetus having ef- 
fected his escape and passing through Geneva, was kidnapped at the instance 
of Calvin, tried for an offence which was committed elsewhere, before a tri- 
bunal to which he was not responsible, condemned to death, " delivered over 
to the secular arm" and burnt. This most atrocious act was approved by Me- 
lancthon ! justified by the Swiss churches generally, defended by Beza his co- 
adjutor and successor, and we may safely say was the remote cause of the de- 
cline of the Reformed Religion in France. For those who before thought they 
were contending for religious freedom, now found that the only result was 
likely to be a change of tyrants, and they made choice of the more splendid 
tyranny. Sad, we say, was the fate of Servetus, even in this aspect : but this 
is a trifle compared with the injustice he has otherwise suffered. In being thus 
taken away, a few short years were lopped off from his troubled career; and 
the firmness with which he endured his martyrdom gave him no cause of self- 
reproach. But his character was blackened, his opinions misrepresented ; he 
was branded as a heretic, blasphemer, atheist ; and for three centuries has his 
memory been traduced by the unwearied zeal of the followers of his persecutor, 
and borne a reproach which it never deserved. For, be it known, Michael 
Servetus believed in the sole and supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ: and 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 97 

the proof of this will in time be given to the public. We can readily under- 
stand then why it is that Calvin ists at this day are so prompt to denounce this 
fundamental doctrine of the true Christian Religion. They are but following 
m the footsteps of their great master — and as far perhaps as the spirit of the 
age will permit. 

And now we ask, does this Reviewer believe that, despite these serious 
blemishes on their characters, these men merited heaven by their services to the 
cause of the Reformation ? This would be to pick up an idea which they 
themselves professed to repudiate. Or that it is not to be supposed that learn- 
ed Doctors who studied the Word so profoundly and propagated their doctrine 
so widely could be other than the best of men. Hear then the judgment of 
Paul. " Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels . . and 
though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge ; 
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not 
charity, I am nothing." " I keep my body under, lest having preached to others 
I myself should be a castaway." The sentiment of gratitude to spiritual benefac- 
tors is natural to man, and when exercised with due discrimination is to be highly 
commended. We recognize and honor the services rendered to Christianity 
by the Reformers, but we also think that there are serious drawbacks to their 
claims. And have they not been more than repaid % Is it not enough that 
they have for three centuries been canonized and honored with a degree of 
veneration but little short of idolatry ? That to this hour they rule over the 
faith of millions, and that the destiny of other millions and of states has been 
shaped by their course ? But must their false views of the character of God- - 
of the character of man and the world : their misinterpretation of the Divine 
Oracles, and the gloom they have cast over the face of religion be also per- 
petuated ? And are our obligations to them like the debt to our Maker, " a 
debt immense of endless gratitude ?" 

A moral of impressive, of fearful importance is to be drawn from the destiny 
of the Jews and the lot of the Reformers. While reflecting on the blind con- 
fidence, the narrow vision, and the fallible judgment of man, a voice from be- 
yond the veil which separates the spiritual world from ours, comes as in so- 
lemn warning against the danger of mingling the foul spirit of party 'with the 
benign spirit of religion, or of attempting to promote a desirable end by unjust 
or equivocal means. Uzzah was smitten for putting his hand to the ark, and 
he who trifles with sacred truth, or would employ it to further his ambitious or selfish 
ends, does either at the peril of his soul. And the same voice repeats, as in thun- 
der-tones, that though the Divine Providence may use any and every man as 
instruments to effect his purposes according to the fitness which they have 
induced on themselves, yet that God is no respecter of persons or nations / that 
there is nothing covered which shall not be revealed : and that he will not change 
his truth or bend his everlasting laws to accommodate them to the systems of self-de- 
rived intelligence. 

(4.) We are not now to learn from Dr. P. or Bishop Hall, what the Synod of 
Dort was. The decrees and acts of that packed jury — their previous intrigues, 
their subsequent persecutions, are before the world, and have at length re- 
ceived the unanimous condemnation of all but Calvinists. It seems that even 
8 



98 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

me stomach of this Reviewer cannot digest all their proceedings. That a 
Scotsman and a Calvinist should swallow them a little better, is not surprising 
— with such an one this has well nigh become a point of honor — and having 
done so the epithets " holy," " guarded," and " reverential !" are as easily used 
as any other. If any man wants to know what was the product of their in- 
cubation, let him read Tilenus' account of their proceedings and acts. Calvin- 
ists say this is a libel, and a very customary apology with them is, " that they 
do not themselves draw the odious inferences from their doctrines which are 
deduced by others." But can that be a just or true principle, the inferences 
from which, when fairly drawn, nay inevitable, are so shocking as to be in- 
stantly repudiated by all healthy minds ? 

(5.) Ihe Moravians, or followers of Count Zinzendorf, were favorably known 
during the last century for their zeal in carrying, what they called the Gospel, 
to inhospitable or barbarous climes. Since the spirit of missions has revived 
or arisen in other religious bodies, we do not learn that they have been pecu- 
liarly distinguished in this respect. Nominally Lutherans, in their writings the 
Reformer's doctrine of Justification is carried to an extreme. The body, we 
believe, has never been very large, but is completely organized : and so entire- 
ly separated from the community around them as to constitute a sort of im- 
perium in imperio. Such a body must of course be under a separate regimen. 
In this case, the government is of the strictest order • the control of affairs 
being vested in a secret conclave who demand and enforce the most entire 
obedience. Swedenborg has intimated that in his day, the leaders of this con- 
clave, and such of their subordinates as were " initiated into their mysteries," 
held a secret heretical doctrine at variance with their public tenets, and which 
they did not impart to the mass ; also that the lives of some of them in private 
were such as did not altogether become their profession. We supj)ose he was 
well-informed, and can conceive of no stronger motive for misrepresentation 
here than in other cases. Prompted by this unexpected statement to examine 
into the constitution of this sect, we became satisfied that such an irresponsible 
power was extremely liable to abuse, and to just such abuses as Swedenborg 
has pointed out. Nor is he alone, for Smollett, the historian, has placed on re- 
cord similar charges ;* in which, however, it is to be understood the body 
generally is not involved, for Swedenborg elsewhere commends the mass of 
the members for their simple and sincere piety — strongly resembling that of 
the primitive Christians. 

(6.) Again : our Reviewer is disturbed that Louis XIV. of France and Pope 
Sextus V., according to Swedenborg, should have attained a happier lot than 
some of the great professors of religion among the Protestants. If we mistake 
not, he believes that even " the thief repented on the cross," and he will 
scarcely deny that Nebuchadnezzar, after a long and successful course of am- 
bition and conquest, was arrested in his career of pride : was punished : re- 
pented and acknowledged the true God. And do we not learn from faithful 
history that Louis XIV., in his latter years, repented of his career — in many 
respects similar : having been brought to reflection by adversity, that he re- 

* Vol. IV. p. 122, Con. of Hume 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 99 

formed his life : became hopefully pious after the Roman model, and that his 
example influenced his whole court ? What other reparation could he make ? 
But he disliked Calvinism and Jansenism, its Roman twin-brother — and there's 
the rub. 

And Sextus Quintus, with some defects of character, has generally been, 
regarded as the most earnest of all the Popes, in his efforts to reform the 
Catholic Church. The treasure which he had accumulated to be applied to 
great public objects, which he did not live to accomplish, has furnished the 
pretext for charging him with personal avarice. But our Professor has 
changed all this. 



Having thus disposed of the " misrepresentations" and " slanders," we come 
now to the charge " of contradicting the facts of history." And here the ac- 
cuser is more moderate than under some other heads, seeing his sharp optics 
have only detected some seven or eight instances, which we will pass in re- 
view. Thus Swedenborg has taught (1.) That the first eleven chapters of 
Genesis were not literal history, but written in an allegorical style, or accord- 
ing to what he calls the :; correspondence between natural and spiritual 
things." (2.) That there has never been a universal deluge of waters on earth 
since the creation of man. (3.) That sacrificial worship was first instituted by 
Eber, having been unknown before. (4.) That a Trinity of Persons was un- 
known in the Apostolical Church, and first broached by the Nicene Council. 
(5.) That the faith imputative of the merit of Christ was also unknown in the 
Apostolic Church, but arose from the decrees of the same Council, by the mis- 
interpretation of a single expression of Paul, in Rom. iii. 28. (6.) That the 
Apostle's Creed was the Creed of the Apostolic Church. (7.) That the 
Athanasian Creed was written soon after the Council of Nice, by one or 
more of those who had been present at that Council ; and thence was received as 
Catholic. (8.) That there is an internal or spiritual sense in the Word, "is a 
truth which has been heretofore altogether unknown in the Christian world," 
and again, " The Spiritual Sense of the Word hath been heretofore unknown." 
(1.) The subject of a Spiritual Sense in Scripture will be more particularly 
treated in the sequel. At present we observe, that it argues but little respect 
for the intelligence of his readers, that a Protestant Professor of Theology 
should tell them at this day, that a denial of the literal truth of the early 
chapters of Genesis, was therefore a denial of an ascertained historical fact. 
That part of the Mosaic narrative, in its more obvious import, has proved a 
fertile source of objection for Infidels, and the more judicious and liberal 
Christian advocates have long since seen the necessity of modifying the expla- 
nations which were accepted as satisfactory several centuries since ; when all 
apparent contradictions and other difficulties were solved by the single 
phrase, " the Omnipotence of Deity." The ascertained facts of Geology were 
inconsistent with the supposed account of creation, and this has led to one 
modification, now generally received by evangelicals themselves, in spite of 
the conservative bigotry of their brethren. The accounts of the fall of man, 
of the ages of the Antediluvians, of the flood, and of the Mosaic chronology, are 
all attended with insuperable difficulties on the old hypotheses ; all of which 



100 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

has been acknowledged by candid, and learned, and pious theologians, who 
yet believed and taught the inspiration of the Scriptures, and of this portion 
with the rest. Thus Dr. Henry More, in his "Philosophical Cabbala, ,: * has 
vindicated the first three chapters of Genesis, from the charge of teaching the 
absurdities, which mistaken zealots had fathered on them. Dr. Thomas Burnet, 
has done the same. Dr. Conyers Middleton,^ in his learned " Essay on the Allego- 
rical and literal interpretation of the Creation and Fall of man," gives an expo- 
sition approximating very near to that of Swedenborg, and says that this or 
something similar is supported by the authority of the most learned of the 
Ancient Fathers, who in their defences of Christianity against the Infidel, al- 
ways explained the narrative in the same way. More recently, Coleridge% has 
followed in the same track, and assures us on the authority of Bishop Horsley, 
that the Church of England did not require belief in the literal truth of the story 
as here recorded, " divines of the most unimpeachable orthodoxy having, from the 
earliest ages of Christianity, adopted or permitted it in this instance." That the first 
eleven chapters of Genesis may be regarded as figurative or allegorical, without 
detriment to one's orthodoxy, was conceded by Sir William Jones,$ who also 
acknowledges that many learned and pious divines have thought the same. 
Now all this either was or ought to have been known to Dr. Pond, who has 
yet made it as much matter of offence in Swedenborg, as if none but Infidels 
had ever done the same. 

(2.) The accounts of the deluge, and the supposed proof of the institution 
of sacrificial worship earlier than the time of Heber (Gen. vi. 4; viii. 20), 
are both included in these eleven chapters. If these are figurative, of course 
they cannot be regarded as historical facts. Geologists, in return for the privi- 
lege of questioning the literal truth of the Mosaic history of Creation, had 
pretended to deduce from appearances on the surface of the Earth, evidences 
of the Mosaic history of the Deluge; but their hypotheses were various and 
inconsistent with each other- and of late, there are symptoms of a determina- 
tion on the part of these savans to withdraw this unwilling tribute. If we mis- 
take not, science has demonstrated that, without a new creation, all the water 
on the globe would not form a stratum fifteen cubits above the highest moun- 
tains known at present ; and that such an addition would disturb the balance 
of the Solar System. It is not very long since Dr. J. Pye Smith, a highly Evan- 
gelical clergyman of England, endeavored to recall his brethren to more ra- 
tional views by maintaining, in a learned dissertation, that the flood spoken of 
by Moses was but partial. Coming from that quarter, the book was a startling 
phenomenon, and the sensation it produced, in full correspondence ; will Dr. 
P. turn his weapon on him also ? 

(3.) Swedenborg declared that the spiritual significance of animals was 
known to the most Ancient Church ; and that with the Church which suc- 
ceeded, they were representative of Spiritual Affections, both of which positions 
he explains at length, but that they were not used in sacrifice proper: viz. slain 
for that purpose in the temple-worship, until the time of Heber (A. C. 2180). 

* Pages 72, 168, 175, 176. f Quoted in Int. Rep. 2, Sec. I., 114, 200. 

t Aids to Reflection, Note 66. § Life, 375. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 101 

Such Scriptures as the following (Jer. vii. 21-23 j Ps. xl. 6, 8 : 1. 9, 14 : li. 16, 17 ; 
cvii. 22; cxvi. 17; Hos. vi. 6 : 1 Sam. xv. 22 ; Micah vi. 6-8 ; Dan. ix. 27), leave 
the impression that bloody offerings are neither acceptable to God, nor suited 
to human nature in its better state, but were permitted in accommodation to 
human weakness. Until this critic shall establish by some better argument, 
that what precedes is literal history, we shall most probably continue to give 
credence to the statement of Swedenborg. 

(4.) A Trinity of persons was unknown to the Apostolic Church. If this had 
been a part of the primitive faith, and recognized as such from the beginning, 
the Arian heresy could never have risen to its formidable height. A few 
private Christians, in their simplicity, while reflecting on the then mysterious 
subject, may have fallen on such a notion, but the Nicene was the first Council 
which broached or established it, and this is all that Swedenborg says. If Dr. 
P. can find a trace of such a dogma in the acts of any preceding Synod, he 
might aid his cause by bringing it to view. 

(5.) The early Christians, though not deficient in faith, were distinguished 
for the purity of their lives, and for their charity towards their brethren. By 
these traits were they specially known. They were, therefore, not so much 
inclined to seek out the plausible pretexts for shunning their duty, which 
afterwards so generally obtained. Until the Nicene Council had divided the 
Deity into three persons, how could it be pretended that one of them had waived 
his own claims, and undertaken to satisfy the justice of the other two 1 and how 
could it be thought that the bare belief of such a proposition would be im 
puted to them as a ground of merit ? It was not so easy then, before this, to 
misunderstand "the single expression'' of Paul, in Rom. hi. 28. For, as the 
context both there and in corresponding passages (v. 1 ; Gal. ii. 16) snows, that 
by " works of the law," he meant the observance of the Ceremonial law of the 
Jews, which was now abrogated. To Jewish converts was he addressing 
himself, and he is combating the error of those who maintained that the law 
of Moses was still binding on them, and to be likewise imposed on their 
Gentile brethren; and he elsewhere especially contrasts such works with 
" good works" (comp. 9 and 10 verses of Eph. ii.). By "the faith of Jesus 
Christ,"' is to be understood his system and precepts, as distinguished from 
Rabbinical prescriptions, or the speculative and ethical systems of philosophers . 
To say that Paul taught "justification by faith," is an evasion nothing short of 
contemptible. Does he anywhere say that we are justified by faith alone, as that 
phrase is now understood, exclusive of the moral law'? Dr. P. knows very 
well that he does not. And even if he had it would not only have proved his 
inconsistency with our Lord, and the Evangelists and other Apostles, but 
also with himself. For, as might be shown by a score of passages from his 
Epistles,* no one insists more strongly or frequently on the necessity of charity 
and good works. Swedenborg recognized the decision of the Nicene Council 
as the remote, and the misapprehension of Paul, as the proximate cause of the 
heresy to which he alluded, and this, our sapient critic thinks, is a great " in- 
consistency !" 

* See Rom. ii. 6, 7 ; 1 Cor. xiii. 13; 2 Cor. ix. 8; Col. i. 10; 2 Thes. ii. 17; 1 Tim. ii. 
10; v. 10, 25; vi. 13; 2 Tim. ii. 21 ; iii. 17; Tit. ii. 7, 14; iii. 1,8,14; Heb. x. 24; xiii. 21. 



102 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

(6.) Dr. P. says, "it is not likely that the Apostles wrote the Creed that goes 
by their name, or any part of it, or that they ever saw or sanctioned it." That 
Swederiborg is " certainly mistaken," when he says it " was the Creed of the Apos- 
tolic Church:' 1 What says Lord King, who wrote the standard work on the 
subject, and probably knew quite as much about it as our Bangor Professor? 
"It is exceedingly difficult to find out the precise framers of it. The authors 
were many, and the composure a work of time. One part of it was used by the 
Apostles [the very part referred to by Swedenborg], and left by them to their suc- 
cessors ! The Creed was always demanded at baptism, both by the Apostles, and 
by those who came after them. The other part of the Creed was afterwards 
added by the rulers of the Church, in opposition to heresies as they appeared 
and sprung up." He then shows in what sense the Apostles are said to be the au- 
thors of one part, and the succeeding governors of the Church, of the other. 
{Boyle's Diet., Art., Lord King. Note B.) 

(7.) Lord King has likewise made a suggestion which renders the statement 
of Swedenborg with respect to the Athanasian Creed, entirely probable, inde- 
pendent of the latter's credibility as a witness, which, by this time can hardly 
be shaken by the hasty dictum of this critic, in the opinion of any honest reader. 
According to his Lordship, " A Creed among the early Christians was termed 
1 a symbol,' which term was taken from military affairs, where it denotes the 
watchwords or signs, by which soldiers knew -each other ; which is, however, 
not the full and proper signification of the word, but it is rather to be derived 
from the marks and tokens used by the idolatrous Pagans in their sacred rites, 
called by them symbola, which were two-fold, either mute or vocal. ' He gives 
instances of both, and proves them to have been' secret marks or words revealed 
only to those who were initiated in their mysteries, by means of which they "were 
known to each other, and had free admission wheresoever they came, to the 
services of those deities ; whose symbols they had received ; and that from 
the same reasons, and in allusion thereunto, the Creed was called a Symbol 
by the primitive authors" {Ibid). Such was the custom of secret societies of old; 
such is their custom now. Certain signs, pass-words, or more lengthened formulae, 
by which brethren, though strangers, may recognise each other, are given 
orally, with exactness, and are forbidden to be committed to writing. How natural, 
in the height of their differences, when both parties claimed to be Christians, 
and the orthodox wished some means of distinguishing a true brother from an 
Arian in disguise, that this method should be adopted. Now the Athanasian 
Creed, according to Waterland and others, has been traced to the fifth century. 
The Council met in the fourth. Is it so improbable then that "it was com- 
posed by one or more of those who had been present at the Council," and 
circulated for less than a century, as a secret symbol, and, of course, required to be 
given exactly and from memory, though its purport may have been often and 
otherwise given? The Creed itself was afterwards made public, probably 
because the victorious party regarded secrecy in this particular, as no longer 
necessary. 

(8.) Many have believed that there was a Spiritual Sense in Scripture, or 
a part of it. But though conjectured, the Spiritual Sense, running through the 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 103 

entire Word, was unknown, and only guessed at, until Swedenborg demonstrated 
its truth. Such we take to be his meaning. 



We come now to a new series of pretended blunders — those which relate to 
matters of Science. In reading this little volume, its several parts have given 
rise to a variety of emotions, some to a feeling of surprise at the ignorance of 
the writer, others to a sentiment of indignation at his misrepresentations, to 
all appearance deliberate : when viewed as a whole to a still stronger feeling 
at the ill-concealed but unworthy purpose which pervades it throughout. We 
cannot say that we have been edified by any portion of it, but the part now 
under review has certainly afforded us some amusement. Other critics, nu- 
merous and competent, and some of whom did not accept the theology of 
Swedenborg, have given him credit both for philosophical genius and scientific 
attainments. During Ins life, as we have seen, his reputation in this respect, 
was unquestioned throughout Europe. Some over-zealous partizans who dis- 
liked his religion, would fain have depreciated his claims to science. At 
length it was concluded that it was better to be silent on this head also. Clau- 
dius (the Wansdeck Messenger) assured such that they would probably have 
withheld their verdict, if they had known that Swedenborg had gone through 
more than all their learning in his youth. Chevalier Sandel, while addressing 
the Swedish Academy of Sciences, speaks of him as " a vast and sublime 
genius who never knew either repose or fatigue, who united to an ardent 
desire an encouraging hope of acquiring the most profound attainments in 
Philosophy, in all branches of the Mathematics, in Physics, . . in Anatomy, 
&c. ;" and that he was " celebrated for his universal knowledge/' " He was," 
says Count Hopken, " a true philosopher . . gifted with the most happy 
genius and a fitness for every science, which made him shine in all he pur- 
sued, . . and was probably the most learned man that my country ever pro- 
duced." " I will venture to affirm," says Dr. Messiter, the physician of George 
II., from personal knowledge and converse, " that there are no parts of math- 
ematical, philosophical, or medical knowledge, nay, I might justly say of hu- 
man literature, to which he is in the least a stranger. " Prof. Gorres. places his 
" Principia" in honorable competition by the side of Newton's. Berzelius, who 
has been thought to know something of chemistry, adds his testimony. "I 
have looked through the Animal Kingdom, and am surprised at the great 
knowledge displayed by Swedenborg on a subject that a profound metallurgist 
would not be supposed to have made an object of study, and in which as in all 
lie undertook, he was in advance of his age.'' 1 The silent influence of his views has 
served to correct many a crudity in others, and the progress of science has 
shown the elevated position from which he surveyed the whole field of na- 
ture. Other critical authorities have joined in this encomium. But here 
comes a most learned Pundit from Bangor, who would reverse all this hasty 
eulogium : " I am Sir Oracle, and you shall judge with my judgment, for I have 
found more than half a score of instances in which he contradicts the plainest 
and most universally acknowledged facts of science." We will remark on them 
briefly, as they successively come up. 



104 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

(1.) According to the present English translation, Swedenborg speaks in a 
certain connexion of the planet Saturn as being " the farthest distant from the 
Sun." To this others have replied that the original [longissime distat ab sole] 
may be lawfully rendered " very Jar distant." Or, if the present version is 
retained, any one, who was not determined to find fault, would know that he 
meant nothing more than that it was the farthest of those which were then discover- 
ed, or of which he had been speaking. 

(2.) As he has stated the cosmogony of the system with tolerable correctness 
we accept the outline of this critic. " Swedenborg's theory of creation, or 
rather of cosmogony, was in brief this : The sun of the spiritual world is an 
emanation from God, the heat and light of which are the Divine love and the 
Divine wisdom. From the atmospheres of this sun proceeded the sun of the 
natural world, which is a body of pure fire. From the atmospheres of the 
natural sun, becoming more and more dense the farther they proceeded from 
it, arose, in the distance, the earths of the solar system. And so of all the oth- 
er suns and systems in the universe. The earths, therefore, are from the at- 
mospheres of the natural sun — which is from the atmospheres of the spiritual 
sun — which is from God. Hence, everything is ultimately from God ; or, as 
Swedenborg expresses it, ' Jehovah created the universe, and all things in it, 
not from nothing, but from himself.' Swedenborg taught that ' atmospheres, 
waters, and earths are the common or general principles (elements) by which, 
and from which, all and everything exists, with an infinite variety. Atmos- 
pheres,' he said, ' are the active powers, waters are intermediate powers, and 
earths are passive powers, from which all things exist.' " To this theory — 
which by the way is the celebrated " nebular hypothesis" of La Place, bor- 
rowed from Swedenborg and disfigured so as to be recognized with difficulty — 
he excepts on two grounds. (1.) That modern chemistry has proved that air, 
water and earth are not elements, but compounds. And here again it has been 
well responded that the term " element" was not here used in its present sci- 
entific acceptation as " the last result of analysis," but simply as an ingredient 
or constituent of something else, though itself might not be homogeneous. In 
a piece of richly striped cloth, for example, each thread of warp or woof run- 
ning through the whole tissue, might be variously composed of flax, cotton, 
and silk, and still would be correctly spoken of as an " element" of the cloth. 
Swedenborg's definition of " unity" is, that " it is constituted of several various 
things so arranged as to be in concord or harmony with each other ; which con- 
cord arises from their all having respect to one origin, that is, to one Lord who 
is the life of all. . . There is no such thing as one absolutely or one simplyi 
but one harmonically, consisting of many various things collected together 
into one form and tending to one end or use and on that account called one" (H. 
& H. 56 • A. C. 457, 3241, &c). 

In accordance herewith Mackintosh says, " the whole creation . teems with 
instances where the most powerful agents and the most lasting bodies are the 
acknowledged results of the composition, sometimes of a few, often of many 
elements. These compounds often in their turn become the elements of other 
substances ; and it is with them that we are conversant chiefly in the pursuits 
of knowledge — solely in the concerns of life. No man ever fancied that be. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 105 

cause they were compound they were therefore less real. It is impossible to 
confound them with any of the separate elements which contribute to their 
formation" (Hist, of Eth. Phil. p. 256). And Coleridge, still more nearly, "In 
nature there is no other than negative unity such as the unity of space. Hence, 
the most composite bodies are the noblest and most energetic." Chemistry, 
which owes so much to analysis and experiment, as distinguished from the 
observation of nature in her spontaneous workings, he seems to think is a very 
good thing in its place ; but that " it may from the beginning have mistaken 
the products of destruction (cadavera rerum) for the elements of composition ; and 
that thus far what it has gained in a few brilliant inventions, it may have lost 
©n the score of communion with the life and spirit of nature." It is not to such 
philosophers, who " murder to dissect," " who delight to mint and remember 
names, to arrange and classify, and pore and pull to pieces, and peep into death to 
look for life, as monkeys put their hands behind a looking-glass,'' 1 that we are to look 
for a comprehensive theory of the Universe. How do chemists know that 
what they call elements, are really simple substances ? And is all specula- 
tion to be suspended until their analysis is certainly complete ? To the true 
philosopher who uses the man of science as his drudge, the faculty of synthesis 
is still more important. He may prefer, with the ancients, " to catch nature in 
the fact" 1 of yielding her products ready compounded, to putting her to the torture 
after the modern fashion : and such an one will probably continue to believe 
that " the four primary forms of matter, fire, air, water, earth, corresponding to 
the four primary powers, no one of which can be resolved into the other, and 
the number of which can neither be increased or diminished, will survive the 
caprices of empirical theory." The new nomenclature of the chemists has mere- 
ly re-baptized many things which were well known before. The composite na- 
ture of air, water, and earth has been recognized by Swedenborg elsewhere in 
his philosophical works, though he had no occasion to mention it here. 

(3.) But he thinks the theory cannot be true because it implies that the 
earth's atmosphere reaches to the sun, whereas it is commonly thought to ex- 
tend not more than forty or fifty miles. The objector is again unfortunate. 
Swedenborg never supposed that the air we breathe reached to the sun, but 
that the interplanetary spaces were filled with an etherial medium, which by 
condensation and other changes became the common air near the earths ; and 
recent observations support his views here also. " The opinion that an 
etherial medium pervades the regions ot space, of sufficient density to affect 
the motion of comets, though so rare as to offer no sensible resistance to the 
denser masses of the planets, whose periods of revolution have continued ex- 
actly the same since the epoch of the first astronomical observation, seems to 
be gaining ground. Its existence indeed seems alone competent to explain 
the observed acceleration of Encke's Comet in its orbit" (Am. Enc. XIV. Art. 
Cornets). This being conceded, there can be no farther objection to the idea 
that "the atmospheres receive, attemper, and convey the light and heat from 
the sun to the earth." 

(4.) Matter in itself is quiescent and dead. All causes are spiritual, though 
parallel therewith runs a corresponding series of outward phenomena or ef- 
fects ; and this has given rise to the common opinion of material causation, 
which, being a fallacy of the senses, is to be corrected by reason. Preservation 



106 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

is perpetual creation. Man has not life in himself as an independent source. 
There is but one life in the Universe, and that is the Lord's, from whom it pro- 
ceeds and is received by man as His continual gilt. Such are some of the fun- 
damental principles of Swedenborg's philosophy. This life comes as spiritual 
heat with its attendant light, which are love and wisdom, from the spiritual 
sun, within which the Divinity dwells, and though it flows equally to all, yet 
is it modified both by the capacity or form, and the state of the recipient subject. 
From his Word we learn that " the blood is the life of man" (Lev. xvii. 11, 14) ; 
by which we understand that it is not simply the representative of the latter, 
but the medium which receives it directly from the primal source. The di- 
vine love being thus the source of life, and also thus modified when lent to man, 
is declared by our author to be, (1.) the source of vital heat ; (2.) to be the cause 
of the redness of the blood — redness in the sacred language corresponding to 
love or heat. (3.) He further asserts that the blood " purifies itself in the lungs 
from things undigested, and (4.) nourisheth itself with things conducible, such 
as odors inhaled with the air ; and that those fragrant or offensive are selected 
according to the character of individuals — from whence results a like variety 
in the quality of their blood." Now all these are grievous heresies in physiology 
according to this Reviewer. He does not inform his readers which of the con- 
flicting theories that pretend to account for animal heat, is "plainly and universal- 
ly acknowledged;" but says that iron is the cause of redness in the blood. The 
presence of this ingredient was perhaps quite as well known to Swedenborg as 
to himself. In the small volume of " Opuscula" published from his posthumous 
MSS. in 1846, there is a tract " Concerning the Red Blood," in which he de- 
clares that " the redness of the blood arises from the interposition of salino-volatile 
particles in each globule." The iron in the blood is in the form of a salt, but of 
itself has no power of action, nor could it be present unless attracted by a 
higher, that is, a spiritual power or proper cause. (5.) That the blood purifies 
itself in the lungs has recently been demonstrated by Liebig, who also has been 
thought to know a little both of Chemistry and Physiology. Its vitality having 
likewise been shown by late experiments, the necessity of nourishment fol- 
lows : and what so appropriate as that suggested by Swedenborg ] from whence 
the farther consequence there asserted is also inevitable. 

(5.) Again : According to Swedenborg, at the original creation and before 
the fall of man, there were on earth neither ferocious nor unclean beasts, birds, 
reptiles or insects ; or vegetable or mineral poisons. As yet Hell itself was 
not ; but arose gradually with that abuse of human liberty which we call sin ; 
and with it arose the former, of which our author enumerates many, and 
among them " venomous serpents." Such a statement, this critic affects to think, 
denies that all things were created by God : is inconsistent with the narrative 
of Eve's temptation by a serpent : and with the fossil remains of animals dis- 
covered by Geologists. The reader will bear in mind that " to create" accord- 
ing to Swedenborg, is not to make something out of nothing ; but that all creation 
was originally an emanation of Divine Substance from the body of God, though 
successively changed in its properties as it receded from its source : that the 
animals now upon earth received their peculiar form by the Divine Influx 
passing through the spirits of men ; and that this influx being perverted by 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 107 

passing through evil spirits gave rise to similar perverted forms on the earth, 
the form in every case being expressive of the internal quality. Now though 
the substance of all things originated with God, and in that sense they were 
created by him indirectly, yet the perversion originated on arose with (Swedenborg 
does not say was "created" by) Hell. Mr. Pollok, who is a great authority with 
evangelicals, says, u 'Twas sin dug hell."* And in truth, it would be difficult 
to conceive the use of such an establishment before, unless, as Calvin taught, 
our Maker having foreordained the greater part of his creatures to damnation, 
provided a place in anticipation, with all the appliances for having them duly 
roasted. According to Moses, the things which God created directly and " in 
the beginning" were all " very good ;" and supposing the temptation of Eve was 
not allegorically expressed, are there none other than venomous serpents on 
earth ? But what has Dr. Pond, an evangelical, to do with Geology ? And 
how long is it since the gentlemen of his catalogue denounced it as an atheist- 
ical science 1 But he has answered his own question. The fossil remains 
spoken of, belonged to animals which were extinct before the creation of man. 
As restored by comparative anatomists, they were sufficiently awkward, un- 
gainly looking creatures. Some ate vegetables, other slime or fish. But Geolo- 
gists and writers on Natural Theology think the last a merciful provision, to 
keep down superfluous numbers and prevent a more painful death from starv- 
ation. The lion, though a carniverous animal, is mentioned by Swedenborg 
as among clean beasts. There is no proof that any of the former corresponded 
in nature with those given in his latter catalogue. And then as to the time of 
their origination, can the Lecturer tell us, on his theory, whence came the 
animals on this continent, or in the isles of the Ocean % How did they get 
there from the Ark % 

(6). If such a Revelation as Swedenborg professes to have delivered in good 
faith, were really vouchsafed, we might reasonably anticipate that among its 
disclosures would be certain things of which Ave were wholly ignorant be- 
fore, or at variance with our previous opinions on the same subjects, and 
others of which we have no special account in the Scriptures, although neither 
impossible in themselves nor conflicting with the true sense of the letter. Of 
this kind is his statement " that men, before the fall, had no external respiration^ 
and no sonorous, articulate language, such as took place afterwards; but 
communicated their ideas one to another, by numberless changes of the 
countenance, by the varied motions of the lips, and by the lively expressions 
of the eye. But at the time of the fall, ' external respiration commenced, and 
together with it external language.'" But this like everything else which 
traverses his cherished opinions, is incredible with this critic. " Men," says 
he, '• at that period had organs of respiration, else they were not men ; and 
who believes that these organs were never exercised ? Who believes that 
whole generations of men lived on the face of the earth, without ever breath- 
ing the breath of life, or having any oral communication one with another •? 
€ertainly not Swedenborg. He believed they were exercised, but in a different 
way. Man's internal organs being the work of infinite wisdom, are designed 

* Course of Time, B. I. 



108 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

to subserve a variety of purposes, some of which may be suspended and 
others called into a novel species of action. And herewith agrees a sentiment 
of Archbishop Ma gee — " The uses arising from the connexions of God's acts may 
be various ; and such are the pregnancies of his works that a single act may 
answer a prodigious variety of purposes. Of these several purposes we are for 
the most part ignorant : and from this ignorance are derived most of our ob- 
jections against the ways of his Providence ; whilst we foolishly presume 
that like human agents, he has but one end in view" (Sermon on Atonement, 
21). The same important truth was also perceived by Pope. 

" In human works, though labored on with pain, 
A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain ; 
In God's, one single does its end produce, 
Yet serves to second too, some other use." 

The object of respiration is to support life, and surely this were as well ef- 
fected by " internal respiration" such as Swedenborg speaks of, and which in 
deed would indicate a more direct communication with the source of life. For 
the rest, we know that there is a language of signs and expressions of the 
face, capable of prodigious compass and variety in those who have made it a 
special study. If beasts have no other mode of communication, why should 
we suppose it less significant with man, when guided by reason and senti- 
ment ? A distinguished statesman is reported to have said " that the use of 
words was to conceal thought." Before men had acquired this diabolic art, or 
ever they had learned to dissemble, such an universal because natural language 
would suffice for the conveyance of all their thoughts and feelings. 

(7.) Perhaps there is no department of human knowledge, of which the 
general theory is so unsettled as is that of medicine. The number of hypoth- 
eses which have chased each other across the field of its history is so great, as 
to have occasioned its being called in derision the " conjectural science." 
Nevertheless it is from this province, and on such a subject as the nature of dis- 
ease that this critic selects instances of opposition to " plain and universally 
acknowledged principles of science !" While on the subject of the blood, we 
had occasion to state that " matter in itself is passive ; and cannot exhibit either 
life or motion unless actuated by spirit. The natural world is indeed the basis 
of the spiritual, but the latter is the world of causes ; the changes in the former 
having been preceded by corresponding changes in the latter." This is as true 
of man's body, the microcosm, as of the greater world. The presence of par- 
ticular species of matter in the body may be the occasion of its partial injury, 
derangement, or disorganization — and the presence of other species of matter, 
in the form of remedies, may be the occasion of its restoration. The divine 
influx, which is the source of man's life, though from itself, may be modified 
by the state either of the body, or of the spirit. In full accordance herewith 
Swedenborg declares that diseases are of spiritual origin and may be either 
produced or prolonged "by the influence of evil spirits." And herein he ap- 
pears to have the countenance of Scripture (Matt. ix. 35 j John v. 9, 14; Matt. 
x. 1 : Luke xiii. , 15) and the opinions of the early Christians as cited in the 
preliminary letter of our friend. "That man is subject to death by reason of 
evils, or on account of sin, is known in the church; thus also he is subject to 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 109 

diseases, for these are of death" (A. C. 5712). And the progressive tendency of 
the science, both hi its theory and in the choice of its remedial agents is to con- 
firm his view. Homxopathists are not the only physicians who believe that dis- 
ease is of dynamic or spiritual origin. The influence of the mind upon the 
body — of grief, sorrow, fear, anger, anxiety, nay of excessive joy in inducing 
disease, and of cheerfulness, faith, and hope in effecting its removal, are mat- 
ters of familiar observation. Are not these spiritual causes 1 If there be any 
one at present who would assert that there are no other than material remedies 
we leave him to contend with Miss Martineau and others who feel that they 
carry in their persons proof to the contrary. Swedenborg's philosophy does 
not deny the virtue of any system of remedies which proves successful in 
practice. It includes all such ; for according to him — although disease is of 
spiritual origin — " this is no hindrance to man's being healed naturally, for the 
divine providence concurs with such means" 1 (A. C. 5113). And this may be true 
while the patient is wholly ignorant as well of the origin of his malady as of 
the remedy's mode of operation. 

(8). Swedenborg has given an account of the origin of Idolatry, substantially 
the same with that given by numerous other authors, which this critic abridges and 
objects to, as follows : ;t The most ancient people, those which existed before 
the flood and immediately after it, possessed the science of correspondences; 
or, in other words, they knew that every outward object in nature represented 
some inward thought or affection ; and also what thoughts and affections ex- 
ternal objects did represent. Possessing this knowledge and greatly prizing 
it, they filled their houses and temples with the pictures and images of such 
things as represented moral and religious truths. This they did with no bad 
intent, but rather for their own instruction, and improvement. But in process 
of time, their descendants, not retaining the science of correspondences, and 
not knowing the import of the pictures and images, began to worship them as 
gods. Hence the origin of the ancient idolatry." 

" If this be a true statement, it follows that the ancient idolatry must all have 
been of the same kind. At least, the same objects of worship must have 
been found in all places." Admirable Logician ! And if all men had the same 
tastes, or the same ruling passions, and if there were no varieties in national or 
individual character, or circumstances, there might be something in this ob- 
jection. But until all past history is reversed, it need detain us no longer. 

(9.) Again, on the subject of Hieroglyphics, u Swedenborg says, that the Egyp- 
tians retained the knowledge of correspondences longer than any other people ; 
and that the whole system of hieroglyphical writing is founded upon it. Ac- 
cording to him, the hieroglyphics are all of them of a symbolical character, 
each representing some doctrine or affection, some intellectual, moral, or spir- 
itual truth. But unfortunately for the system, the hieroglyphics have since 
been deciphered. The hand-writing on the monuments and tombs of the an- 
cient Egyptians has been read. The investigation reaches back to very an- 
cient times — to a period earlier than that of the sojourn of the Israelites in 
Egypt. And what is the result ? Champollion assures us, that by far the 
greater portion of the Egyptian hieroglyphics are simply alphabetical characters. 
There is no more enigma or mystery about them than about our own A, B, C. 



110 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

Of the remainder, a part are mere pictures ; the picture of a man standing for a 
man, and that of a lion for a lion, &c. A small portion of the hieroglyphics are 
used as symbols ; and seem to have come into such use in the same manner 
as tropes and metaphors with us."* A small portion of the hieroglyphics 
used as symbols ! And is this all, Dr. ? Mr. Gliddon, the highest American 
authority, teaches otherwise : that while the last few years have added much 
to our knowledge, the solution of hieroglyphical mysteries is still far from 
complete ; that there is much yet to be learned ; that there is reason to be- 
lieve that there is both a literal and an allegorical purport in them; and 
that it is this last department which remains to be more fully explored. 
He often quotes a work of Count Portal (a Swedenborgian, en passant), who 
uses the discoveries of Champollion to prove the symbolic nature of the char- 
acters and figures. In the Hieroglyphical Alphabet many figures are employed 
to denote a single letter. The selection of these in practical writing, is believed 
to have been guided by the intended symbolical meaning. The knowledge of 
correspondences, according to Swedenborg, though surviving longer in Egypt, 
gradually faded there as elsewhere. But the public use of these characters 
continued for many centuries after, down through the dynasty of the Ptole- 
mies, and under some of the Roman Emperors. If these later inscriptions yield 
no allegorical sense in addition to the literal, the theory of Swedenborg will 
not thereby be disproved. 

In this connexion the critic is pleased to be facetious, a privilege in which 
he rarely indulges himself, and wisely, for his movements in this kind are 
neither of the lightest nor most graceful. He intimates that the "Book of 
Jasher" may possibly be inscribed on some of the tombs or monuments of 
Egypt, and suggests that " Prof. Bush or some one else go search for it." Why 
not Dr. Pond himself? He has already played the critic in Chemistry, Geology, 
Natural History, Physiology, Cosmogony, and Astronomy, and here decides 
oracularly about Hieroglyphics also. Besides, the members of the Egyptian 
Society would doubtless pass a vote of thanks, if he would help them out of 
a few of their difficulties, and perhaps present him with a cast of the Rosetta 
Stone for the amusement of his leisure hours, after he has finished the demoli- 
tion of Swedenborgianism. 

Besides these contradictions to natural science (and the candid reader can 
now see how flagrant they are), our lynx-eyed critic thinks he has detected a 
few in the department of metaphysics. Let us see whether he is more formi- 
dable here than before. (1.) According to Swedenborg, the constituents of the 
human mind are the Will and the Understanding, the former the seat of the 
affections, the latter of the thoughts, and there are three degrees in each, which 
are successively opened during man's progress in regeneration. The Reviewer 
thinks this classification is both defective and confused. He has not conde- 
scended to tell us which of its faculties is not included in the one or the other. 
The various states of the mind are a different subject of consideration, and that 
Swedenborg " merges the sentient in the voluntary'' 1 will be something new to his 
followers. They understand the Free-will to be the Self-determining power 

* See Greppo's Essay, pp. 34-46. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. Ill 

which gives any of its faculties as moved by any of its feelings its desired di- 
rection; the general rudder which moves the whole mind or its parts. 

(2.) Another doctrine of his is that " conscience is an acquired state or habit of 
mind, the result of education, and is peculiar to the present life." And so 
taught Sir James Mackintosh (as regards the first part of the statement), after a 
full review of all the best writers on Ethics. He has given his reasons for his 
faith. Will Dr. Pond refute them ?* 

(3.) Swedenborg declares that "man has two memories, an exterior and in- 
terior, 1 ' and has given many facts of consciousness in confirmation (A. C. 2469- 
2694), which, to one who is in the habit of reflecting on his own mind, and its 
operations will suggest others of a like kind. Our Reviewer "regards this as 
a wholly gratuitous assumption (he has not told us why), and that " it may as 
reasonably be affirmed that man has ten memories as that he has two." To 
which we reply, that man has not ten memories because he has two and no 
more. 



The last of this series of charges under the general head of Contradictions, is 
that Swedenborg is inconsistent with himself. During some years in which our 
attention was specially directed to this point among others, we discovered 
nothing of the sort ourselves. Jurists, the course of whose habitual studies 
leads to a familiarity with the laws of evidence, have read these writings and 
been struck with the air of truth which pervades them. The previous charac- 
ter and attainments and subsequent conduct of the writer, were a sufficient 
warrant for their examination. The dignified simplicity with which he an- 
nounces his pretensions — in one sense certainly as great and important as 
ever were claimed by man — his continual respect for the freedom of his rea- 
der, so different from the assumption of a charlatan, conciliated farther atten- 
tion. A system of doctrine well-digested and complete : definitions precise and 
closely adhered to : narrative and description rapid and picturesque, yet by their 
admirable selection of particulars, free from ambiguity : dialogue which grad- 
ually unfolds the important subject under discussion, but pointed, laconic and 
free from all useless digression : principles clearly laid down, and inferences 
fairly drawn out : argument usedj, not for the discovery of truth by observing 
the residuum after a balance of probabilities, but for its elucidation to the un- 
initiated, as if by one who dwelt perennially in its present sphere ; these 
and such like considerations have produced their natural and jiroper impres- 
sions on the minds of such readers when unpreoccupied. Here is no doubt or 
hesitation of manner, nothing stated as probable or conjectural — nothing of 
the dark double-meaning of the ancient oracle — none of the artificial plausi- 
bilities which are thrown over the cunningly devised fable — none of the sub- 
terfuges by which the artful and insincere are used to escape when closely 

* We do not suppose that Dr. Laurence Sterne is a very high authority on disputed points 
of Theology, and yethis celebrated Sermon on " The Abuses of Conscience," gives a far more 
correct account of that facility and its operations than has Dr. Pond, and is at this day more 
truly edifying than all the other homilies on that subject we have ever seen in the volumes 
of the current divinity. 



112 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

questioned — but all set forth in lucid order and perspicuous style, the straight- 
forward report of one who " speaks that which he knows and testifies of that 
which he has seen." There are persons now living, and not at all deficient in 
memory or sagacity, who have been diligent students of these writings for 
more than forty years, and have never yet detected a real contradiction in 
them. Many indeed were reported to them by superficial readers, and ap- 
peared such at first view to themselves, but close examination uniformly re- 
conciled the apparent discrepancy. 

Swedenborg having laid down a principle, or made a statement with its 
proper qualifications and exceptions, like most other writers, on the recurrence 
of the same topic, leaves something to the good sense and candor of his read- 
ers. He does not encumber his page with repetition and circumlocution, in the 
vain hope of guarding against the misconceptions of all possible blockheads, 
or the perversions of the captious, who would wrest his meaning, however 
plainly expressed ; but, dealing fairly with his reader, he takes it for granted 
that the reader who desires instruction will deal fairly with him. If the sense 
is not clear from the passage itself, or is not limited by the context or nature of 
the subject, it may generally be elicited, when compared with expositions pre- 
viously given, or by adducing principles whose connection and bearing are not 
at first apparent. 

If, nevertheless, this man whom all history attests to have been " moral, re- 
ligious and sincere," has after all been only practising an elaborate fraud, he 
ought surely in his voluminous works to have sometimes lost his circumspec- 
tion, and afforded ample opportunity of being detected by cross examination. 
Knowing these things, we desired to see whether any gross blunders which 
had escaped the scrutiny of such life-long observers could be stumbled over 
by a critic who digests three octavos in a week. But to the Contradictions. 

(1.) Swedenborg taught that man was created innocent though gifted with 
free-will 5 and both natural and ignorant, though capable of being regenerated 
into a spiritual and celestial man. That this process, which is adambrated in 
the first chapter of Genesis, was continued for several ages or generations, 
during which the race generally was being elevated to this condition. Reason, 
under the guidance of humility, would have kept before man the truth that 
he did not make himself, and that he was constantly dependent on a higher 
source for his life and all its powers and enjoyments. But, as he did not per- 
ceive the divine influx, imparting and sustaining his life, but, on the contrary, 
seemed to act as of himself, it was possible for him, if he chose to walk only 
after the sight of his own eyes, and to be deaf to that voice which would have 
corrected the error, to be led into the fallacy that his life was either self-derived., 
or resigned to him to be used at his discretion / Such, he tells us, was the origin 
f ev n — partial at first but deepening with successive generations. At first 
there were no other intelligent beings interposed between man and his Maker, 
but his free-will consisted in this power of heeding the dictates either of Sense 
or Reason. Having fallen, he could only be restored to his position by volun- 
tarily retracing his steps ; but instead of this, he continued to decline, until at 
length his lapse from integrity became so entire that in order to effect his re- 
storation, it was necessary that his relation to divinity should be altered. We 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 113 

have already seen that his mode of receiving life from its source was changed, 
as also his method of intercourse with his fellow-creatures. His regeneration 
being now' to commence from without and proceed inwards, his free-will 
thenceforth consisted in his being placed in equilibria between the influences of good 
and evil spirits, by whom he was ordered or permitted to be attended. Such 
Swedenborg declares to have been the arrangement of Divine Wisdom, though 
man himself might be unconscious of their presence. But that he elsewhere 
teaches that all angels and demons are of the human race, the Reviewer urges this 
as one of his pretended contradictions. " If thought, affection, and the very 
life of man depend on his communication with spirits, how was it, : ' he asks, 
•• when as yet there were no evil spirits ? Does all freedom consist hi this equi- 
librium ! Are God and angels and the lost spirits in the same ?' And on such 
questions he rings the changes through five successive pages. Now Sweden- 
borg is very explicit on the difference between the state of man by creation 
and his condition at present. And if the critic, as in duty bound, had informed 
himself correctly on this head, he might have spared himself the task of com- 
bating a man of straw. Without resorting to spirits, the natives of other 
worlds (which we are not forbidden to do by the supposition), long before the 
arrangement of which Swedenborg speaks, there were in the other life, evil 
spirits from this earth, in sufficiency to produce such an equilibrium. Neither 
the Deity, nor angels, nor demons, are in this equilibrium. Every intelligent 
being acts freely, but acts according to his nature or character. Temptation 
cannot enter heaven. Good motives have no permanent effect upon the lost. 
Man is in this equilibrium, because this is his state of probation : in which his 
character is yet to be formed. As fast and as far as i^ is formed for good, tempta- 
tion in that kind ceases. But though it is in no case irresistible, the farther 
the individual advances hi the regenerate life, the temptation becomes of a 
more subtle and spiritual character; and thus, is a balance constantly pre- 
served, though the weights in the different scales may be as constantly in- 
creased or diminished. He who is entirely regenerate — and of such, we learn, 
there are at the present day but few — ceases to be molested with temptation, 
and enjoys " a Sabbath of rest." On the other hand, free-will being a continual 
gift, is also continually liable to abuse ; and still good spirits may be hi the 
continual endeavor to restrain men from falling as low as they would sink if 
left to themselves * 

* The Reviewer says in a note " Swedenborg taught, also, that just previous to the end of 
the first Christian Church, and to the last judgment, which took place in the year 1757, the 
wicked spirits had so multiplied in the other world, that the equilibrium on earth began to 
be destroyed (Last Judgment, Sec. 33). But did men at that day begin to lose their free 
agency ? Do we hear any complaints of this nature horn writers of that period ?" Do we 
hear of anything else from the really pious of that day ? Has Dr. P. never heard of " the 
force of example," of" the influence of fashion," and of "custom," in neutralizing the best 
precepts ? If so, we ask him farther, whether he has read the Preface to " Butler's 
Analog)"," or the whole controversy with the Deist? and Infidels of the last century ? Or, 
Swift's " Project for the Advancement of Christianity," or, " Warburton's Letters to Hurd," 
" Hartley on Man," or the fictitious work entitled " Chrysal," or numerous other works 
which take up the same burden? What raised up Wesley and Whitefleld, but the deplora- 
ble state of morals and religion, which was also the theme of every Bishop's charge, as also 
of every moralist and philanthropist ? But why speak further of what oudit to be notorious 
to all ? 



114 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

We have not learned from Swedenborg that " man is the passive recipient of 
such influx," or that because "man's reception thereof is according to his 
state," therefore " if the man is good the influx produces good," and- vice versa. 
This may be good Calvinistic, but not Swedenborgian doctrine. One of previ- 
ously good disposition inherited from his ancestors, can more easily become good 
himself, but may pervert the influx if he will. No violence is done to the will 
in either case. The most unfavorable disposition is not compelled to sin; 
the most favorable — not forced to be holy. The influence, so long as man is 
free, may be yielded to in order, or suffocated, or perverted. The water which 
turns the great Avheel of some New England factory, is the continual gift of 
Divine Providence. The direction given to that power, the kind of machinery 
which it is employed to move, the subject on which it is brought to bear, its 
operation, whether begun, continued or suspended, are within the option of 
the proprietor. So the power to act at all is the continual gift of Providence to 
man, but the direction given to that power is within his choice, and this free- 
dom of choice is a reality. And, furthermore, so long as it is continued, to say 
that, within the limits allowed him, man cannot be prevented from acting as 
he lists without destroying his freedom, is a self-evident proposition ! But 
from which of his works did Dr. Pond learn that " Swedenborg insists that man 
is deceived, and must, and ought to be ?" The passage he refers to for that purpose 
(D. P. 210) teaches no such doctrine. According to our author, there is but 
one entirely independent Being in the Universe. Man has different faculties 
imparted to him, whose functions are also diverse. He appears to himself to 
act independently, and such appearance is necessary to his freedom. His 
senses are often fallacious, but their false reports may be corrected by reason. 
If, nevertheless, blinded by " self-love," man listens to the suggestions of the 
lower faculty, and is thereby led astray, the preventative being still in his own 
power, he may be " deceived," but it is by himself. 

(2.) Though Swedenborg regarded the Divine Love and Wisdom as being 
the very essence and form, and not as mere attributes of the Deity, yet he 
often speaks of them as proceeding from the Lord. And such method of speak- 
ing is said to be in accordance with the latter, idea, and at variance with the 
former. But where is the inconsistency % The sun is an ocean of fire, from 
which heat and light "proceed," hi the form of rays. The water of a stream 
proceeds from a fountain ; and in both cases that which proceeds, partakes of 
the nature of its source. In like manner, the Holy Spirit, which is the Divine 
Love and Wisdom, proceeding from the unexhausted fountain of Deity, par- 
takes of his substance. 

(3.) The Trinity, according to Swedenborg, did not exist until after the In- 
carnation of Christ, which appears to conflict with his assertion, that the 
angels who appeared to Abraham as he sat in his tent, " was the Lord in his 
Divine Trinity as represented by the three angels." But here, again, the diffi- 
culty is in the critic's own imagination. There always was a Trinity — a Di- 
vine Essence, Form, and Divine Proceeding ; but the Trinity since the Incarna- 
tion is different. The Essence is the same ; the Form, is the Divine Humanity; 
the Holy Spirit is a new divine influence — as witness, John vii. 39 ; comp, 
xx. 22. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 115 

(4.) The necessity for man's regeneration at the present day arises from his 
fall. But Swedenborg declares that his regeneration is also set forth in the 
first chapter of Genesis, and before his apostacy. And this is contradiction, 
the fourth ; and another evidence of how deeply the critic has pondered the 
works he undertakes to refute. Man was created in the innocence of ignorance; 
he was afterwards created anew in the innocence of wisdom. 

(5.) Swedenborg at one time says that " infants are innocent ; at another 
"that though they have no actual evil," or sin, "yet they are equally in evil with 
adults." And this, the Reviewer thinks, " looks like a contradiction." We can 
assure him, it is only in appearance, and that because he had confounded 
things essentially different. Our author makes a " distinction," unrecognised 
by Calvinists, between evil and sin. " Innocence is that which does no hurt to 
others." Infants may have latent tendencies to sin, inherited from parents, 
afterwards to be developed, and rejected or appropriated according to the use 
or abuse of freedom, at a responsible age ; but while infants, these propensi- 
ties may be kept in continual check by the divine influence. 

(C.) The Reviewer having laid down from Swedenborg, the general propo- 
sition " that love to the Lord, and towards the neighbor, rule in the heavens, 
and make the heavens :" follows it up with numerous quotations, gathered 
from different and distant parts of his works, expressive of the happiness at- 
tending the marriage relation, or what he calls " conjugial love," and which, 
he declares, as has been already stated, is continued in the other life. Not to 
anticipate here what will more properly come up hereafter, it may be enough 
to say at present, that this principle or affection which was ordained by Provi- 
dence, and bears so important a part is its economy as relates to man, is not 
in opposition to, but the highest exemplification of the love of the neighbor. If 
the inhabitants of heaven are from the human race, and thus traceable to the 
marriage relation, should the happiness attendant in the discharge of its 
duties, and which reconciles to its cares, be ever made the subject of ribald 
jest or gross insinuation % and by a Protestant divine ! We have no desire to 
misrepresent our opponent, but we should infer from this and many other parts 
of his book, that his ideas of marriage are essentially those which were 
taught in the Church of Rome during the Middle Ages. True Protestants, 
however, will continue to believe with Swedenborg, that this affection which 
was implanted by God — sanctioned and blessed by Him — is "holy, pure, and 
clean." If such is its nature here when genuine, is it altered by being trans- 
ferred to, and still farther purified in, a higher sphere ? 

(7.) In this connection we meet with another most flagrant contradiction ! 
Swedenborg says that "in heaven, 'two conjugial partners are not called hus- 
band and wife, but the conjugial partners of each other, from an angelic idea of 
the conjunction of two minds into one.' Yet in the course of his writings, we 
hear them called husband and wife, and that too by the angels themselves, 
probably a hundred times." By which most readers would understand that 
they were not so called, among themselves, and in heaven, but the terms are 
used by Swedenborg, and ascribed to some of his interlocuters, in accommo- 
dation to the habitual language of men on earth, or of spirits who have not 
yet reached the higher abodes. 



116 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

(8.) Swedenborg speaks of certain dogmas of the Reformed Churches, as 
being of licentious and dangerous tendency ; also, of their unhappy effect on 
the church and the world, as manifested by their operation on a large scale, 
and for ages, and declares that the corruption thus induced had made them 
the subjects of special prophecy. But he also declares, it was provided of the 
Lord that these principles should be accompanied by precepts which, with 
the well-disposed, might counteract their evil influence. And this, again, is 
charged as a notable inconsistency ! But it is the Confessions of the Reformed 
Churches, which are contradictory. They all insist on " justification by faith 
alone," and yet require obedience to the law, as " a rule of life," although they 
declare such obedience impracticable ! As these positions cannot be recon- 
ciled — by a happy instinct, the conscientious endeavor to lead a good life, 
while the hypocrite or the negligent secretly drugs his conscience with the 
Antinomian opiate. The study of the Bible with the sincerely pious, more- 
over neutralizes the tendency of their Creeds, of which, fortunately, most of 
them know but little. It is likewise true that the Divine Providence has 
never permitted any system of faith which was utterly unredeemed, exten- 
sively to prevail. But for this " taking back j" this after-thought, of " good 
works being the fruit of faith," on the part of the Reformed, the bonds of 
religion and morality, after the first enthusiasm was spent, would have been 
entirely loosed, and society would have been dissolved, unless, by an union of 
the virtuous of all parties, such dangerous principles had been suppressed 
with their authors. 

(9.) When Swedenborg lays down the general proposition that place is not 
properly predicable of the Spiritual World, which is rather a state of being — by 
that term, in this connection, he means fixed place, like the localities of this 
world. He uniformly teaches that places in that world are appearances which 
vary with the states of the inhabitants, but that they are real to them while they last. 
There, as here, place exists within space, in general; and in this sense it is that 
he speaks of the spiritual world being divided into " different regions," and 
of the "great extent of heaven." Within still narrower limits, we may sup- 
pose, that certain of these appearances became so far permanent from the con- 
stant presence of those in like state, as to have the resemblance of Earth, or a 
foundation for other and shifting scenes. And it is in this aspect that the 
" world of spirits" is called a middle " place" between heaven and hell — that 
its different "quarters" are spoken of, &c. Sometimes he uses the term "place" 
in reference to that world, for want of one which will more exactly express 
his meaning, or in accordance with the popular impression. When thus 
qualified, all the apparent discrepancy in Swedenborg's language on this sub- 
ject is at once removed. 

(10.) It is not taught by our author on any occasion " that there is no decep- 
tion or hypocrisy in the next world." Far otherwise, he repeatedly says, that 
the aspect of men on their first entrance into the intermediate region — and 
it may be for a long time afterwards — is much the same with that which they 
exhibited while here. But that they are all ultimately reduced to a condition in 
which the real character is developed, when the outward appearance shall 
conform to the inward state. Until then, they may practise their frauds to a 



DR. POND"S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 117 

certain extent even on the innocent. When consigned to their permanent 
abodes, the deceitful retain the disposition to deceive, and may circumvent 
each other, but they can no longer impose even on the " simply good.*' 

(11.) The next pretended instance has been already answered in explana- 
tion of the statement that " the Lord casts no one down to hell." He may 
permit this to be done in order to separate the evil from those whom they 
would otherwise molest or injure — or the spirit may cast himself down to 
escape the intolerable brightness to which his own nature is entirely opposed: 

(12.) The Reviewer thinks it an " extraordinary statement," that " sinners 
hi hell are only punished, as it becomes necessary, to prevent their molesting 
or tormenting each other." And will nothing less than eternal burning, un- 
consiuned, in material fire, satisfy the tender mercies of an Evangelical Pro- 
fessor of Theology ? We cannot believe it. Time was when such an idea 
reigned without dispute. The natural reaction against the monstrous thought 
at length begot the opposite error of the Unversalists. But in the various 
oscillations of opinion, we are now happy to learn, that the ancient and terri- 
ble dogma has come to us greatly modified and softened hi the teachings of 
the sternest sects. And the Reviewer has again failed in his efforts to fasten 
on Swedenborg, a contradiction of his first position. The cases cited which 
speak of ' ; bruising in a mortar,*' " grinding hi a mill," &c. are expressly said to 
be the insane fantasies, induced by the malignant states of cruelty into which 
the demons had brought themselves, in conformity with the general law of 
the spiritual world, according to which the internal states of all are indicated 
by surrounding appearances which vary with those states. 

(13.) Finally, Ave do believe, ' ; that there are no radical changes either Avith 
the good or evil after death." Nor is there anything in all the theological works 
of our author opposed to this statement. The passage which is brought for- 
ward by this critic, as teaching a different doctrine, has been most unnecessa- 
rily misunderstood by some of his own followers. '• It would be unreasonable," 
says he, "to suppose that the Lord would permit any one to be punished hi hell, 
much less to eternity, for the sins of a short life." The term " punished" is used 
here in the sense of vindictive, arbitrary infliction, which Swedenborg uniformly 
denies. His doctrine is that sin punishes itself: that suffering (as distinguished 
from punishment) is the inevitable consequence of sin. to which also the 
wicked are eternally liable, because the character is fixed. Its intensity is, 
however, mitigated as far as possible by restraining the outbreaks of their 
infernal passions. In this sense, punishment is occasionally permitted as 
an act of mercy, as in the case of the inmates of an hospital. And in 
accordance herewith he declares that all the infernals are more or less insane. 

The Reviewer having thus drawn out his specimens, closes with the com- 
placent annunciation that " it is unnecessary to pursue the inconsistencies of 
Swedenborg any farther." In which for once we concur with him. and for the 
best of reasons. The search would be fruitless if conducted with candor, and 
a proper knowledge of the system. He has not made good a solitary charge of 
. contradiction to Scripture ; to history, sacred or profane ; to the facts of 
science, or to himself. With such a result to crown the preliminary promise 
of the book, the reader may be left to decide either on the weakness of the 
assailant, or the strength of the system, or both. 



118 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

CHAPTER VI. 

DR. POND'S OBJECTION THAT SWEDENBORG LOWERS THE STANDARD OF CHRISTIAN 
PIETY CONSIDERED. 

Of all the extraordinary charges that ever were brought against any system 
of religion, perhaps the most groundless is that against the New Church of 
" lowering the standard of Christian morality or piety."* The opposite ten- 
dency of this system has been strongty enforced by Mr. Clissold in his Letter 
to Archbishop Whateley. If the reader will simply recal the declarations 
already made, that New Churchmen believe the divine rewards and punish- 
ments are not arbitrarily dispensed ; that the condition of man in the other 
life depends on the character formed by him here ; and that future happiness 
can only flow from virtuous or pious dispositions, which are the result of an 
habitual observance of the moral and divine law ; we leave him to judge 
whether stronger motives to the regenerate life can be brought to bear on the 
human mind • and thence to determine on the justice of the imputation. Its 
repetition here by a Calvinist — who asserts that man cannot obey the divine 
precepts : that Christians are justified by faith alone, and that an habitual sin- 
ner may be saved in his dying hour, by professing his repentance and belief 
in the vicarious atonement of Christ — might be somewhat amusing, but for 
the atrocious aspect it assumes when he enters into details. 

He first takes the broad ground that Swedenborg's system of piety dispenses 
with the appropriate work of the Holy Spirit, by deputing it to the ministration of 
angels. If by this we are to understand that New Churchmen do not acknowl- 
edge a third God or Person whose exclusive function is such as he describes, 
we most freely own that we entirely repudiate every such idea. But if, as 
appears to be his design, he would impress on the reader that we deny all di- 
rect action of the Divinity on the soul of man in the work of regeneration, he has 
but furnished another evidence of the recklessness or carelessness which could 
hazard such an assertion hi the face of such declarations as these: "The 
new generation or creation of man is effected by the Lord alone : by charity and 
faith as the tw r o means, with the co-operation of man." " The human soul, 
forasmuch as it is a superior spiritual substance, receives influx immediately 
from God ; but the human mind, forasmuch as it is an inferior spiritual sub- 
stance, receives influx from God mediately through the spiritual world; and 
the body, forasmuch as it originates from the substances of nature, which are 
called material, receives influx from God mediately from the natural world. 
The good of love and the truth of wisdom flow in from God into the soul of man con- 
jointly, that is, united into one, but are divided by man in their progress, and 
are conjoined only with those who suffer themselves to be led by God." " The 
nature of influx is such that from the Lord's divine (principle) there is an in- 
flux into every angel, into every spirit, and into eveiy man, and thus the Lord 
rules every one, not only in the universal, but also in things most singular, and this 
immediately from himself and likewise mediately through the spiritual world." 
t; Without immediate influx the mediate is of no effect: immediate influx is 

* P. 180. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 119 

received according to the order in which a man or angel is. . . This influx 
is continual and adjoined to all and singular things of the will of man, directing them 
to order as far as possible : for man's own will is continually leading him 
astray" (T. C. R. 576 ; Inf. 8 ; A. C. 6058, 9683). 

Again ; if the Reviewer means that no one can be regenerated (or sanctified, 
if he will,) without first going through the frightful process which men of the 
same stamp call " conviction," and which is induced by the most terrible de- 
nunciations of a sinner's offences, of the Almighty's wrath, and of the horrors 
of future punishment; we freely confess that such shocking pictures, conjured 
up to frighten people into religion, are often fitted to produce effects the oppo- 
site of those intended, and that reformations based on no better foundation, 
are to be distrusted until fortified by subsequent and more sober considerations. 

But the Lecturer has himself furnished the reply to his own charge in the 
Creed and Articles of Faith which he has quoted at length* Let any un- 
prejudiced man read the fifth section of the Creed as connected with the third 
and fourth ; let him also peruse the fourth, fifth, seventh, and ninth Articles of 
Faith, and say whether it would be possible to bring forward a more baseless 
imputation. According to these, " evils are to be shunned because they are of 
and from the devil : good works are to be done because they are of and from 
God : and they ought to be done by man as of himself but with a belief that 
they wee from the Lord, operating in him and by him? "The Holy Spirit is the 
Divine Proceeding whose influx created and sustains man and all things in 
life." " The continued aim of the Lord, by his Divine Providence is to join man 
to himself and himself to man, that he may give him the felicities of eternal 
life." "In order to enter heaven man must be regenerated or created anew; 
which great work is effected in a progressive manner by the Lord alone, by 
charity and faith as mediums, during man's co-operation." " Charity, faith and 
good works are unitedly necessary to man's salvation; and nothing of either 
is of man, but all is of the Lord and all the merit is his alone? We leave such 
sentiments to plead their own cause. 

And was Swedenborg neglectful of prayer himself % Or did he fail to impress 
the duty on his readers 1 He was piously educated, by a learned and pious 
dignitary, his father, and was so early and thoughtfully pious himself that even 
in childhood his friends would often say that " surely the angels spoke through 
his mouth." Among the rules of life which he habitually observed, were 
these : "To read often and meditate much on the word of God," and " always to 
keep the conscience clear? As this last could only be done by neglecting no duty-, 
it only remains to inquire whether he considered prayer a duty. 

" Piety from charity, external sanctity from internal sanctity, and a renunci- 
ation of the "world with a life in the world, constitute the spiritual life." " Piety 
consists in thinking and speaking piously, in spending much time in prayer, in 
behaving humbly at that time, in frequenting temples and attending devoutly 
to the preaching there. . . and in performing the other parts of worship accord- 
ing to the ordinances of the church." " It is common in all divine worship that 
man should first will, desire, and pray, and that the Lord should then answer, 

* Pp. 36, 3 c -40, Pond. 



120 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

inform and do ; otherwise man does not receive anything divine." . . " But yet 
the Lord gives them to ask and what to ask ; therefore the Lord knows it be- 
forehand ; but still the Lord wills that man should ask first, to the end that he may 
do it as of himself, and thus that it should be appropriated to him ; otherwise, 
if the petition itself were not from the Lord, it would not be said in those places 
that they should receive whatsoever they asked." " Praying is the effect of 
the spiritual life, or external thereof which availeth in proportion as it proceedeth 
from that life, for they are one as soul and body, or external and internal" (H. 
D. 123, 124; A. R. 376 ; Ap. Exp. 325). Such are the very words of Sweden- 
borg, rendered in our own language. He furthermore says that repentance is 
theirs* thing of the Church with man, and necessary to regeneration, and both 
together constitute the great duty and object of a Christian while on earth; 
and neither of these can be attained without prayer (T. C. R. 530, 539). This 
being clearly laid down, oft-repeated exhortations to prayer would have been 
superfluous. One, however, who will take the pains of search will find the 
duty frequently mentioned ; and it is implied throughout his writings which 
bear on the Christian life. 

To aid in its discharge, several Manuals of Devotion have been compiled, 
and are extensively used by the church both in England and America^ 
which contain an ample selection of prayers suited for private and family use 
on the various occasions of life. For public worship, there are other Liturgies 
besides the American "Book of Worship" which contain a variety of forms ex- 
pressive of the wants of a congregation, and by which the hearts of New 
Churchmen can ascend in thanksgiving and praise to Him whom alone they 
recognize as the Christian's God. 

We must plead guilty to the charge that the " Lord's Prayer" is often employ- 
ed by us ; and if the small circumstance of its being the dictate of infinite wis- 
dom, while teaching his disciples "how to pray," be not a sufficient warrant, 
the following passages may throw some light on the motives of Swedenborg 
and his followers in this — we should hope — rather venial offence. " Whilst 
1 was reading the Lord's Prayer morning and evening, . . the ideas of my 
thought were constantly open towards heaven, and innumerable things flowed 
in. . . And what is wonderful, the things which flowed in were every day 
varied. Hence it was given me to know, that in the contents of that prayer 
there are more things than the universal heaven is capable of comprehending ; 
and that with man more things are in it, by how much the more his thought 
is open towards heaven ; and on the other hand, that fewer things are in it, by 
how much the more the thought is closed ; for with those, who have the 
thought closed, nothing more appears within than the sense of the letter, or 
that sense which is nearest the expressions." " In that prayer all things follow 
in such a series that as it were they constitute a column, increasing from the 
highest to the lowest, in the interiors of which are the things which precede 
in the series." "As often as I said the prayer of our Lord, morning and evening, 
I was raised, almost every time with variety, into an interior sphere, and in- 
deed so perceptibly, together with the change or variation, that nothing could 
be more so ; and this experience I have now had upwards of two years. Interior 
explications of that prayer were then opened to my mind with very much 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 121 

variety. But when the prayer was finished, I came again into my ordinary 
sphere [or state] (A. C. 6619, 8864; S. D. 258). 

As a preparative to prayer it is proper to examine ourselves, but it is not ne- 
cessary that we confess our sins in detail to the Lord, for he knows them al- 
ready ; much less need we charge ourselves with crimes or delinquencies of 
which we are not conscious. The object of prayer is to induce a state of mind 
receptive of the blessings which a merciful God is ever ready to bestow on 
those who would be benefited by them. " God is in heaven and we are upon 
earth, therefore should our words be few." The terms in which our petitions 
are presented, if well considered for ourselves, or adopted from others as ex- 
pressive of our wants, and acknowledgments, and affections, may be brief, and 
yet as compatible with sincerity, and as well adapted to excite corresponding 
sentiments hi the partners of our devotion, as those of multitudes at this day 
who rush into the divine presence with a profane or thoughtless familiarity 
which is as shocking to reverential feeling as it is offensive to good taste. And 
the frequency and flagrancy of this offence is the more surprising when we 
reflect that the warnings against the indulgence of such ostentatious and vain 
repetitions stand out so prominently on the sacred page (Ecc. v. 2 ; Matt. vi. 
7, 8, 32; xxiii. 14; Luke xviii. 13, 14 ; xx. 47 ; 2 Tim. iii. 5). That prayer may 
be something more and other than lengthened words is at times acknowledged 
by the orthodox themselves, for often and with admiration have we heard from 
their pulpits the words of Montgomery's hymn, which are as just as they are 
beautiful, and as forcible, as flowing : 

" Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, unuttered or expressed, 
The motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast. 
Prayer is the burden of a sigh — the falling of a tear; 
The upward glancing of an eye when none but God is near." 

The hurried mental petition of the pious soldier, who in the imminent deadly 
breach commends him to the protection of his Maker, may be as earnest and as 
acceptable as the long and labored and eloquent ! or importunate, gregarious, 
heaven-storming supplications addressed as if to reluctant ears, in the hope 
of wresting a blessing as if from unwilling hands. 

If Jesus Christ be the supreme and only God, to whom else should our de- 
votions be directed'? He was worshiped while on earth (Matt. ii. 11; ix. 18; 
xi. 28; xiv. 33; xv.25; xxviii. 9; Luke xxiv. 52; John v. 40; vi. 37, 45, 67, 
68; vii. 37; ix. 38; x. 1, 27, 28), and afterwards by the primitive Christians, 
(Acts vii. 59; ix. 14, 21; 1 Cor. i. 2; 2 Cor. xii. 8 ; Rom. xvi. 18; Phil. iv. 13; 
Col. iii. 24; 2 Thes. ii. 17), just as the Apostles believed that they complied 
with the divine command in Matt, xxviii. 19, 20, when they baptized in the 
name of Jesus Christ alone (Acts ii. 38; viii. 16; x. 48 ; xix. 5; Rom. vi. 3; 
ICor. i. 13; Gal. iii. 27). 

The followers of Swedenborg may not in all cases, or fully, carry out his re- 
commendations on this subject; but in proportion as they do, they find the 
benefit, and of some of them, we believe it may be said, from the constant care 
with which they cherish a spirit of charity and obedience to the divine com- 
mands, and from their habitual sense of dependence on then Lord, that their 
whole lives are a continual prayer. 



122 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

The Protestant leaders having taken up their well-known position that justi- 
fication is by faith alone, and that a good life is not indispensable to salvation, 
and fortified the same with the solemn declaration that man is not able to obey 
the divine commands, the dullest of their followers could readily deduce in- 
ferences favorable to the wishes of fallen human nature. Multitudes would 
not enter at all on such a course, and others, despairing of success, would soon 
abandon all effort. Why seek to advance in holiness, if they may be saved 
without ? Why undertake that which the ministers of God assure them is an 
impossible task ? To stimulate the supine, Swedenborg everywhere urges the 
importance of obedience, and to encourage them to exertion he shows by con- 
siderations addressed to common sense and reason, and by others drawn from 
Scripture, that if they will make a proper use of the faculties with which they 
are gifted, " it is not so difficult to live the life which leads to heaven as some 
suppose." Whereupon, with that ready instinct which marks the Reviewer's 
course throughout the volume, he would have his readers interpret such decla- 
tion into a lowering the standard of Christian character. And can it be that a 
just and benevolent God would require of us that which we are unable to per- 
form 1 "I can do all things," said Paul, "through Christ strengthening me." 
u Where the Spirit of the Son is, there is liberty." " His commandments are 
not grievous," said John. " My yoke is easy and my burden is light," said the 
Lord himself. " The Truth shall make you free ;" and " if the Son shall make 
you free you shall be free indeed." The wise man of old assures us that " the 
way of transgressors is hard," but " the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasant- 
ness and all her paths are peace." " The statutes of the Lord," said David, " rc- 
joice the heart" of his servants .* 

But, as is well known, there are many who, though acknowledging the duty 
of obedience, mistake the true nature of the Christian life, and the error of such 
is reproved in the following passage, which is thus quoted and wrested by the 
critic : " Some people believe that a spiritual life is difficult, since they have 
been told that a man must renounce the world, and deprive himself of the con- 
cupiscences of the body and the flesh } which things they conceive as im- 
plying that they must reject worldly things, which consist chiefly in riches and 
honors ; that they must walk continually in pious meditation about God, salva- 
tion, and eternal life • and that they must spend their days in prayer, and in 
reading the Word and other pious books. This they call renouncing the world, 
and living in the spirit, and not in the flesh. But that the case is altogether 
otherwise has been given me to know, from much experience, and from conver- 
sation with the angels. Indeed, they who renounce the world and live in the 
Spirit, in the manner above described, procure to themselves a sorrowful life, 
which is not receptible of heavenly joy ; for every one's life remains with him after 
death. But that man may receive the life of heaven, it is altogether necessary 
that he live in the world, and in office and employment there ; that in such case, 
by moral and civil life, he may receive spiritual; because spiritual life cannot 
otherwise be formed without him? From this extract my readers will see what 
kind of Christian life Swedenborg abjures, and what he recommends. With 

* Phil. iv. 13; 2 Cor. hi. 17; 1 John v. 3; Matt. xi. 30 ; John viii. 32, 36 ; Prov. xiii, 
15 ; iii. 17 ; Ps. xix. 8. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 123 

him, a life of pious reading, meditation, and devotion, so far from contributing 
to genuine spirituality, is inconsistent with it." Now is there one reader in 
ten thousand who, if tolerably informed on such subjects, would not know 
that the reference here is to the hermits, monks, and nuns of the Roman Church, or 
to such idle Protestants or persons in other communions as make a semblance of devotion 
a substitute for duty ? Surely the obtuseness which could so mistake, or the vol- 
untary blindness which would thus pervert the plain meaning of an author, 
must disqualify the subject of it from passing a righteous judgment on any 
opinion opposed to his own. It was Swedenborg's own habit, to read often 
and reflect much on the Word of God, and the pursuit of truth and the amend- 
ment of life are urged on his followers in every variety of form, and with every 
topic of recommendation. As a specimen we offer the following from the vol- 
ume which is presently quoted by the Reveiwer : " The externals of the body 
which belong to worship are, going to church, hearing sermons, devoutly sing- 
ing and praying on the knees, and taking the sacrament of the supper. At 
home also, morning and evening prayer, and prayer at meals, conversing on 
charity and faith, on God, heaven, life eternal, and salvation ; and in the case 
of priests, preaching also and private instruction. In the case of every man, 
communicating free and sincere instruction on religious matters, reading the 
Word and pious and instructive books. The externals of the mind which be- 
long to worship, are, thinking and meditating on God, heaven, eternal life, and 
salvation, reflecting on the thoughts and intentions, as to whether they are evil 
or good, and that the evil ones are from the devil, and the good from God ; re- 
jecting all impious, obscene, and filthy conversation," &c. {Doc. Ch. 101, 102.) 

But if Renunciation hi the abstract is to be the principle and measure of 
Christian virtue, where shall be the limit to its operation % It will not be 
content with the repudiation of things which, indifferent in themselves, are 
clogs to the pursuit of a greater good. The temperance pledge will soon be- 
come a bagatelle : the vow of " poverty, chastity, and obedience," will not 
suffice. All pleasure must be renounced, and suffering welcomed instead. He- 
roic spirits will again vie with each other in the endurance of penance, in 
hope " to merit heaven by making earth a hell." A hair shirt will become more 
holy than a simple fast or occasional scourge, the belt with iron prickles, ho- 
lier still. And after all, the hook-swingers and Fakirs and Yogees of Brahmin- 
ism will have left at an immeasurable distance the most terrible austerities of 
La Trappe or the Grand Chartreuse. Away then with these follies of the Dark 
Ages, and let us betake ourselves to a system of rational piety, which inculcates 
plain duties according to an intelligible standard. 

A life in the world, and devotion to some useful calling, is therefore insisted 
on. But, says Swedenborg, " in every calling there is an affection, and this 
affection stretches the will and keeps the mind intent on its work or pursuit; 
and if the mind is never unbent, it becomes dull, its desires are rendered fool- 
ish whenever it has no excitement or stimulus, as a bow which is never un- 
strung, loses its elasticity. Such is the case if the mind is long kept in similar 
and unvaried ideas. When the mind is continually on the stretch of its work, 
it desires repose, and during repose it descends into the body, and there seeks 
for pleasures correspondent to its operations." For this purpose he recom- 



124 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

mends what he calls "Diversions of Charity,"* many of which he enumerates, 
and whose innocence and propriety would scarcely be questioned by any but 
a monk. But as he has included such things as " social festivals, and games, 
and dancing," among them, the Reviewer does not fail to seize on them as 
suited to his general purpose. The sneer at " festivals" smacks of the ancient 
Puritan of New England, and, we are happy to believe, would have been better 
suited to that meridian two centuries since than now. But existing prejudices 
make it proper for us to say, that some of the recreations thus allowed by 
Swedenborg are liable to be misunderstood. Certain games of chance there 
enumerated are so associated in the minds of many pious persons with what 
is usually termed " gambling," that they seem to consider this abuse as insep- 
arable from their use. We must therefore declare and with emphasis, that 
Swedenborg no where sanctions a practice which is so justly reprehensible 
and injurious in its effects. Diversion from the cares of business, and renovation of 
the spirits after labor or fatigue, in the discharge of the duties of one's calling, are the 
necessary condition and measure of their being permitted, and not for unlawful 
gam. Having premised thus much we hasten to meet another prejudice for 
which we have no respect, and ask, " Is dancing a sin, according to the Holy 
Scripture ?" The daughters of Israel danced on occasion of the passage of 
their people through the Red Sea — and on the return of their generals victorious 
from battle. David danced before the Ark of the Lord. At the dedication of 
his house, he says, " Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing ." Again, 
" Let the children of Zion praise the name of their king in the dance." " Praise 
him with the timbrel and the dance." " There is a time to dance," said Solo- 
mon. "Oh virgin of Israel," said the prophet, "thou shalt go forth in the dan- 
ces of them that make merry. . . . Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance both 
young men and old together, for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will 
comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow."! It is sometimes at- 
tempted to obviate the force of these plain texts by sayhig that these were re- 
ligious dances. But would Jehovah have promised, or enjoined, or permitted 
as a part of religion that which was intrinsically wrong % Or could that be 
very heinous which was mentioned by our Lord as fitly contributing to the 
welcome of the returning prodigal 1 

We ask farther, have any body of clergy a right to declare that to be unlaw- 
ful which the Divine Word either sanctions or leaves indifferent % And the Re- 
viewer's Confession of Faith may again give the answer. " Good works are 
only such as God hath commanded in his Holy Word, and not such as without war- 
rant thereof are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good 
intention." " God alone is Lord of conscience, and hath left it free from the 
. . . commandments of men, which are in anything contrary to his Word, or be- 
side it in matters of faith or worship. So that . . to obey such commandments 
out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience," &c.J When, there- 
fore, any such restrictions are attempted to be imposed we demand the war- 

*Doc. of Ch. 117-124. 

fEx. xv. 20; Judges xi. 34; 1 Sam. xviii. 6; 2 Sam. vi. 14; Ecc. iii. 4; Ps. xxx. 11 ; 
cxlix. 3; cl. 4; Jer. xxxi. 4,13; Luke xv. 24, 25; Comp. Isa. i. 12; xxjx. 13; Micah vi. 8; 
Col. ii. 20, 22, 23 ; Rom. xiv. 4. 

JConf. of Faith, chap. XVI. Sec. 1 and XX. Sec. 2. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 125 

rant : and if others pretend to superior sanctity in consideration of their being 
self-imposed, we have only to ask in the words of the Prophet, " Who hath re- 
quired this thing at your hand ?" Evangelical clergymen who wish to render re- 
ligion attractive to the young, often repeat the sentiment, " it never was de- 
signed to make their pleasures less." But when once enlisted hi their ranks, 
the " will worship"' which the Apostle so emphatically denounces, is sure to be 
prescribed and enforced, as if there were no other method of distinguishing a 
veritable Christian from a man of the world. " I do not think," says Dr. Ar- 
nold, " that pleasure is asm. The Stoics of old and the Ascetic Christians 
since, who have said so, have therein overstepped the wisdom and simplicity 
of Christian truth."* And singular it is that such a truism should require to 
be re-iterated in the nineteenth century ! We find it difficult to believe that 
any one who can so far divest himself of the shackles of system as to permit 
the Word of God to leave its natural impression on his mind, should doubt that 
its general tendency is to produce a spirit of calm and equable cheerfulness 
among all rational Christians.! 

Notwithstanding all this our Precisian Professor was sadly scandalized at 
such profane indulgences, and " wishing to satisfy himself as to the practical 
u-orkings of this kind of religion," despatched a set of queries for that pur- 
pose to various points where the New Church is established. One of his re- 
spondents says hi reply, £: Our New Church folks exhibit, perhaps, a fair pro- 
portion of general morality and amiableness of deportment, and seem rather 
to pride themselves on these things (?) • but of a contrite, watchful, prayerful 
spirit a spirit of self-denial, of deadness to the world, of seriousness and holy 
devotion to things unseen and eternal, there are few, if any, of what are con- 
sidered as the natural indications." There was then " a fair proportion of gen- 
eral morality and amiability of deportment /" When such testimony is wrung from 
an unwilling witness, we may fairly suppose the concession is merited. The 
rest is between them and their God, or their confidential friends. The heart 
knoweth its own bitterness and its own struggles. And long may it be ere 
they cease to merit the remainder of the reproach. Ever may it be said of the 
members of this church that they shun the example of the Pharisees of old, 
who walked abroad with lengthened visage and sanctimonious air, in token of 
how very religious they were ! If New Churchmen possessed and practised 
the Christian virtues of which he speaks, it is not probable that they would 
proclaim it aloud or make an ostentatious disjjlay of them in public. There 
are times and places when. such feelings may be exhibited without breach of 
propriety, and before persons to whom they are generally known. There is also 
a regular method of ascertaining the truth in such cases, and if his anonymous 
informer had made application to the proper source in the proper spirit, he 
would not have been left to uncharitable conjecture. 

But a bonne bouche in some shape must be given to the querist, and accord- 
ingly he is told that Swedenborgians sometimes had private dancing-parties, and 
occasionally also in public, when others, particularly young persons, are invit- 

*Life of Arnold, App. C. p. 497. 

fFrom a multitude of texts we select the following : Prov. xv. 13; xvii. 22; Ecc. ix. 7; 
x. 19 ; Is. xxiv. 7, 8 ; Ps. cxliv. 15 ; Zecb. ix. 17 ; Luke xv. 23, 24, 29, 32 ; John xvi. 33 ; 
Matt. vi. 16-18; Mark ii. 18, 19; Acts ii. 46 ; xiv. 17; Rom. xii. 15; Phil. iv. 8. 



126 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

ed, and, shocking to relate ! " on the same evening and at the same hour, in which 
Evangelical Christians are coming together for their stated prayer-meeting /" We 
know not where this highhanded offence was committed ; but we humbly 
presume, that the offenders recollected that they were in a land of religious 
freedom, and that so long as they did not disturb the devotions of their Evangel- 
ical neighbors, they had a right to partake socially of innocent recreation, at a 
season which suited their own convenience, without being pursued by eaves- 
droppers, or hunted down by spies as if they were a set of bacchanalians. — 
The charitable comment of the Reviewer is, that these meetings are designed as 
traps to catch the young and unwary, and to decoy them into the New Church. 
We can imagine his holy horror if we were to suggest that many an Evangeli- 
cal prayer meeting, and anxious bench had been got up for just such a purpose. 
And who is this Professor of Theology, that he should set up his factitious vir- 
tues as a standard for others to follow, and deal out his anathemas on all who 
deny his authority, and spurn his insinuations as they deserve ?* (" But who 
art thou, that judgest another man's servant % To his own master he standeth or 
falleth.") We appeal to an impartial public, and to the honorable men among 
the Evangelical party themselves, many of whom we know, against this out- 
rage on decency ; and desire to know emphatically of this writer and his abet- 
tors, if it is in such style and with such weapons that this controversy is hereafter 
to be conducted ?f His still more abominable charges on the score of morality 
we propose to notice in the sequel. 



CHAPTER VII. 



DR. PONDS'S CHARGE AGAINST SWEDENBORG'S PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETING THE SCRIP- 
TURES AND HIS CONSTITUTION OF THE CANON REFUTED. 

In responding to this Reviewer we have not always chosen to follow him in 
his circuitous course, but have observed a more natural order ; in pursuing 
which, we come now to consider that objection which relates to Swedenborg's 
Canon of Scripture, and his mode of interpreting the same. The general charge is, 
that "he rejects nearly one half of the Bible," while "he adopts such principles 
of interpretation as render the rest of comparatively little value. The obvious 
sense of Scripture : that which strikes the eye and affects the heart of the com. 
mon reader, is, in comparison, of small account, while the utmost importance is at- 
tached to certain hidden, spiritual, mystical senses, which so far at least 
as the uninitiated are concerned, seem almost entirely arbitrary.":}; It is 
a sufficient answer to the first part of this latter charge, that its falsehood 
was known to the writer when he penned it. On page 51 of his book, we find 
the following sentences. "It was a maxim with Swedenborg, and one oft re* 

* Matt. vi. 3-7, 16-18 ; The celebrated Linacre is said to have exclaimed on reading the 
Sermon on the Mount, " Either this is not the Gospel, or we are not Christians /" 

f We have been again anticipated by Mr. Noble, in repelling this general accusation of 
lowering the standard of Christian character, though this Reviewer as his manner is, has 
made no allusion to the fact, except by a garbled quotation. See Nobles Appeal, sec. 
IX. p. 2. 

X Pond, 63, 64. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 127 

peated in his writings, that the doctrine of the church ought to be drawn from the 
literal sense of the Word, and to be confirmed by it." Doctrine is not derived 
from the spiritual sense, but only illustrated and corroborated thereby. This is a 
very important canon of the New Church, and one which ought never to be forgot- 
ten. Let this acknowledgment be placed vis-a-vis with the imputation, and 
what becomes of the latter? Its injustice will be still farther manifest from 
the following heads of paragraphs taken from the treatise on the " Sacred Scrip- 
ture." i: The literal sense of the Word is the Basis, the Continent, and the Firma- 
ment of its spiritual and celestial senses.' 1 " Divine Truth, in the literal sense of 
the Word, is hi its Fulness, in its Sanctity, and in its Power." " The truths of the 
literal sense of the Word correspond to the precious stones, of which the founda- 
tion of the New Jerusalem were built, as mentioned in Rev. xxi. 17-21 : to those 
hi the Urim and Thuminim of the Jewish High Priest : to those also in the Gar- 
den of Eden, hi which the king of Tyre is said to have been (Ex. xxviii. 12, 
13), likewise, to the curtains and veils of the Tabernacle, and to the externals 
of the Temple of Jerusalem." And by the literal sense of the Word, man has 
conjunction with the Lord, and consociation with the angels (S. S. 27, 37,43-47, 62). 
The reader will have observed moreover that in the preceding discussion of 
our doctrines, the appeal has ever been to the literal sense alone. We can as- 
sure him that the same method is observed in the other apologetic and defen- 
sive works of the Church, and by Swedenborg himself in his doctrinal writings, 
and thus far it has proved amply sufficient to disperse all the cavils that have 
ever been urged agahist them. 

The reader can also now appreciate another charge made a little farther 
on,* " that we not only undervalue the obvious sense of the Bible, but de- 
cry, and speak evil of it, and treat it much after the manner of infidels /" Infidels 
object that the style of Scripture is often bald, unclassical, or obscure : that 
there is much in its historical parts that is improbable : that many of its narra- 
tives contahi no important instruction on then face ; certainly none worthy of 
a Divine origin : that the Jews, the people of God, were far from being an amia- 
ble or virtuous people : that some of their most commended Patriarchs and 
Kings and Prophets, were tolerated in immoralities and crimes which would 
now exclude them from good society : that many of the rites of then religion were 
frivolous or burdensome : that its statements of religious doctrine and of the attri- 
butes of the Deity are often contradictory to reason and to themselves: that its 
teachings are often opposed to true morals, and true science : and that the narra- 
tives of the Evangelists present discrepancies which have never been reconciled. 
They point to the varying and absurd dogmas, the immoralities and cruelties of 
professed Christians, to Transubstantiation, to the history of Galileo, and of every 
other great contributor to science ; to the recent "Life of Jesus," by Strauss, 
which seems thus far to have put the whole Protestant clergy to a nonplus. That 
much of this is exaggeration we know, it having been exposed by the Chris- 
tian champions ; but something of it is also true, and the line of defence inju- 
diciously taken up by the latter has but served to confirm the assailants in their 
error. Bodinus, according to Henry More, f gave it as his judgment that " the 

* Page 82. f Cabala, 168. 



128 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

unskilful handling of the French Divines upon the literal sense of Moses [in his ac- 
count of the fall of man], had bred many hundred thousands of Atheists in that 
country !" 

Now what is the reply of Swedenborg and his followers to these things % It 
is, that the style of Scripture, whatever may be its outward aspect, is a divine 
style: that its excellence and inspiration are that it contains within its simple 
exterior a systematic, profound, and spiritual meaning : that the first chapters of 
Moses were not designed to be interpreted literally, but that they contain most 
important truth and instruction nevertheless : that the same is true of all its 
narratives however trivial they may appear to a superficial reader : that the 
Jews were selected by God, not as being the best of nations, but simply to 
represent a Church, of whose truths its ceremonials were aptly significant : that 
the aberrations or failures of their leading characters were simply permitted to 
prevent worse offences, and not approved : that the Word of God is written 
according to the usual appearances of nature, and does not decide dogmatically 
on matters of science, and yet that true philosophy and true religion are not 
opposed to each other, but entirely harmonious : that though the Word is the 
property of all, it is not understood without a doctrine to guide the reader ; 
which doctrine must first be drawn from the literal sense by one ivho is in illustration 
from the Lord: that otherwise heresies and fallacies might be imbibed from the 
sense of the letter, which it would be hurtful to confirm : but that with its aid 
and that of the spiritual sense, all-apparent difficulties and discrepancies may be re- 
conciled, and all false doctrine avoided! and that the past mistakes, and errors, and 
misconduct of professing Christians are to be ascribed to the ignorance or per- 
verseness of individuals, or to the circumstances of their age, and not to Chris- 
tianity itself, the tendency of which when genuine and operative is to dispel all 
error and evil, and to diffuse light and love, or goodness and truth, throughout 
the world. And this rational and conciliatory course, is "decrying," and 
speaking evil of the Bible, and " treating it after the manner of Infidels !" Veri- 
ly, we have here a wise and just, and valiant defender of the Faith ! 

The fact that Swedenborg, taught there was an internal sense in scripture will 
have been seen from our answers to certain of the objections which precede. 
It is so generally known to those who have heard anything of him, and his 
system of religion, that perhaps a majority of such as have derived their infor- 
mation from common rumor, suppose that he believed in no other sense, and we 
may fairly infer, from the above and similar passages, that it is one honorable 
purpose of this candid critic to confirm his readers in such false impression. 
The preliminary letter of our friend having treated at some length of this sub- 
ject, will supersede much of what we should otherwise address to our readers 
in this connexion. 

The question "whether there is such a sense in Scripture " depends not up-, 
on the fact of its appearing arbitrary to "ordinary minds," or to " the uninitiated j 
who will not take the requisite pains to satisfy themselves of its presence : nor 
yet upon that other question, whether it has been discovered or is discoverable 
by this Reviewer. If we chose to be rude, we might reply in the words of 
Johnson on a similar occasion, " Sir, I am bound to find you in arguments, but 
*ot to furnish you with brains." But we will say that it argues little modesty 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 129 

or decorum in him to assert that what he cannot see, must therefore be invisi- 
ble to all others : that numerous individuals in different countries, nations and 
languages — very many of whom, in point of perspicacity (if we may judge from 
his book) would compare advantageously with himself — should concur, without 
any ostensible motive of worldly interest, in practising a fraud on themselves • 
But above all that he should set up his farthing candle against the great lights 
Christian Church, who have declared by scores their belief in such a sense, of the 
though they have not always succeeded in detecting it. In explaining our- 
selves farther, the reader will pardon the repetition of a few principles already 
laid down. 

Swedenborg teaches that there is a spiritual world prior to, and distinct from 
the natural — which, however, are united : that the latter is the product, continua- 
tion, or outbirth of the former, and yet the foundation on which it rests, both as 
a whole and in its several parts : that the spiritual world is the world of 
causes, and the natural, the world of effects : that, by consequence, there is an 
analogy or correspondence between natural and spiritual things : that this was 
known to the early race of men on this earth, who looked through outward 
nature to the Creator ; and that as " all nature was a theatre representative of 
his kingdom and glory," much of their instruction and wisdom was derived 
through this medium : that, in process of time, as men declined from their rec- 
titude, the immediate preception of this analogy by the race in general was 
lulled, and that for its preservation, much of this wisdom was committed to 
writing, — to which as a probable origin we may trace those ancient forms of 
literature which we term fable, allegory, historical legend, and at length poe- 
try : that the original patriarchal Revelation, of which relics were long extant 
in many nations, was by Divine Providence thrown into. the same fonn which 
he calls " The Ancient Word :" that as this was perverted and rendered com- 
paratively useless, it was substituted by that we now have, founded on the 
history of the Jewish Nation, and completed in the canon of the New Testa- 
ment : That whereas the former was chiefly allegorical in its character, the 
latter is better adapted to mankind in their fallen estate, in that it is historical, 
prophetic, devotional, and preceptive hi its forms, — but that nevertheless, [it 
has throughout those books which were divinely inspired an internal sense 
in addition to the literal, which can be made apparent to those whose minds 
are not pre-occupied with false doctrine, or stained with evils of life. 

All these several points, both in general and in detail, he has expounded at 
great length in his different works. Besides a separate treatise on the " Sacred 
Scripture," and a chapter in the True Christian Religion, in which he has reiter- 
ated the same ideas — he dwells particularly on the subject ol correspondence 
in separate essays which may be found in other parts of his works * Much 
the larger portion of his writings are expositional in their character, and his 
expositions consist in the application of these principles to the Sacred Oracles, 
and showing that thereby a sense, rational, coherent, and worthy of their 
author may be detected throughout. To each new term as it arises, he assigns 



*As in H. & H. 87-115; and the dissertations appended to various chap, in A. C J 
2987-3003, 3213-3226, 3337-3352, 3472-3485 ; all of which may be found in vol. iv 
10 



130 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

a meaning, — either rationally showing the grounds of the same ; or otherwise de- 
claring that the reason was known to those who first employed it in a symboli- 
cal sense (as in the names of places, individuals, &c), and proving that the sig- 
nification thus assigned is not arbitrary by the fact, that wherever it is used in 
the books of plenary inspiration, it will on trial yield its fitting and proper 
quota to the sense of the entire passage. 

Swedenborg having much to write, was moreover the most methodical of 
writers. His works are divided into books or chapters, and these again into 
sections or paragraphs the latter of which are numbered. When he has once 
given an explanation he does not repeat it without special occasion, but on the 
recurrence of the same topics he contents himself with references to the passa- 
ges where the exposition has been already set forth. And thus it happens, that 
in simply presenting the results of the principle as applied to a portion of Scrip- 
ture, and these stated nakedly, the several parts being also unconnected, they 
have oft-times an appearance both arbitrary and unsatisfactory to those who will 
not be at the pains ro trace the exposition backwards through those parts of 
his works where the significations of the several terms are given at length and 
rationally enforced. 

We readily admit that the spiritual sense is not immediately seen and by all 
his disciples. His system of doctrine is first adopted as being rational in itself, 
as of clear deduction from the literal sense of Scripture, as reconciling its other- 
wise discordant parts, and therefore as worthy of all acceptation. For a time 
this affords them sufficient food for reflection and of gratitude for their escape 
from the thousand forms of error by which they were previously led astray • 
to which may be added the pleasure they take in the perusal of the Word in 
its literal sense, which now confirms all they have been taught, and when thus 
interpreted presents nothing unworthy of a God of love. 

This, however, does not lead them to take on trust Swedenborg's assertion 
of a spiritual sense. They receive nothing in that way but statements of fact 
which cannot be submitted to their own observation, and on the testimony of 
a credible witness. They examine his principles here also, and finding that 
when properly applied they do explain the Scripture as asserted by him : that 
they yield a meaning often coincident with his doctrine, and always confirm- 
atory of it, and this throughout the Word, they conclude that the invention of 
such a system is impossible and therefore they accept it as true. If the principle 
be false, or deceptive, or arbitrary, could it produce such uniform results in the 
hands of j)ersons thus separated both in time and space 1 

To those who may wish to examine it with candor, we may say, that be- 
sides the portions of the writings of Swedenborg specially devoted to its 
elucidation and which are mentioned above, there are among the collateral 
works of the Church sufficient aids for the purpose. The principle is largely 
set forth by Mr. Noble in his " Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures," who, after 
stating the obvious truth, that " The Word of God" must of course contain a 
profounder meaning than any possible word of man, shows that an internal 
sense has been recognized from the earliest ages of the Church : that it is im- 
possible without it to defend the faith against infidels — many parts of Scripture 
being otherwise inexplicable. He moreover defends it against cavils : fortifies 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 131 

it by the authority of some of the most celebrated doctors of the Christian 
Church, and illustrates it by numerous examples from Scripture. Other books, 
such as those entitled " The Key of Knowledge," and " The Book of Practical 
Piety," besides a general explanation of Swedenborg's principle of analogy, 
furnish numerous examples of its successful application to passages of the 
Word. Not to mention detached essays on the general subject dispersed 
through the periodicals of the church, volumes of sermons are extant which 
explain consecutively large portions of the Word, as "The Lord's Prayer," 
11 The Decalogue," " The Journey of the Israelites through the Wilderness." To 
which may be added others expository, either in whole or in part, of such other 
passages as the parables and miracles of our Lord. Nay, every separate sermon 
— of which very many have been published— is in part devoted to the explanation 
of the spiritual sense of the passage on which it is founded. All these being 
of necessity popular in their character, though some previous knowledge of 
the system is of course required, must naturally enter at some length into the 
rational explanation of such parts of the system as relate to the matter in hand. 

Now Dr. P. includes in the catalogue of works as readbyhim,-Swedenborg's 
Arcana Coelestia, True Christian Religion, Sacred Scripture, Noble's Plenary In- 
spiration, Parsons' Essays, and nineteen volumes' of the N. J. Magazine. And 
it so happens that in this last are to be found not only numerous essays and 
sermons of the character above stated, besides various others in justification 
of the spiritual meaning attached by Swedenborg to many single terms used 
in Scripture, and among them nearly every one of those which this critic has 
made the subjects of his remark; but, distributed through the early volumes 
an entire exposition of the Apocalypse' in which the spiritual meaning of every 
term as it occurs in that book, is incidentally given as it occurs, rationally ex- 
plained, and adapted to popular perusal, without the necessity of recurring to 
the works of Swedenborg for the signification of any particular word or passage. 

Had the Reviewer been really desnous to do justice to the system, would he 
not have attacked it in its principle ; shown wherein it was arbitrary, or fanciful, 
or unsatisfactory; and endeavored to account for the fact of its yielding a co- 
herent meaning throughout those books which we assert to be really the Word of 
God, and not in the others ? But instead of this, the only course which would have 
been becoming in an honorable or conscientious critic, he has resorted to a spe- 
cies of trickery as paltry as any we find in the columns of the unscrupulous, parti- 
zan, political editor. For, by way of giving his readers the fairest opportunity of 
judging its merits, he has offered some ten or a dozen scraps of interpretation, 
in garbled quotations, without in a single instance stating the facts and reasons on 
which ilie interpretation was founded ; taking care, however, both to- select and 
present his specimens so as best to excite the prejudices and hostile feelings of 
his evangelical readers. The truth is, such fragments of the spiritual sense as 
Dr. P. has given in a separate and isolated form, will convey an idea of its 
real character about as adequate as would the rough notes on which an orator 
founds an eloquent oration, to one who neither heard the speaker nor read his 
address ; or as an analysis compared with a clothed and finished treatise ; in a 
word, as a skeleton in lieu of a Grecian statue. It cannot be expected of us 
that we should give a detailed reply to objections- such as these and urged in 



132 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

such a spirit. For, besides that it would unreasonably lengthen this Review, 
we deem it unnecessary to repeat explanations which have been already given, 
and must content ourselves with referring our readers to authorities known to 
this Lecturer, and which will enable them to judge of the fairness of his stric- 
tures on this head.* We may be excused however for a brief reference to cer- 
tain collateral matters. 

The " Dictionary of Correspondences," at which he flouts, was not intended 
for popular use, nor designed for those who have no previous knowledge of 
the subject and have not made its philosophy a particular study. It consists — 
like any other Dictionary — of terms with their several significations; and 
originally contained copious extracts from the writings of Swedenborg ex- 
planatory of these. In the present edition, it is expressly stated in the adver- 
tisement, that all such passages are omitted, inasmuch as it was drawn up for 
the benefit of such as were presumed already to possess the works of Sweden- 
borg, to which it would serve as an index, as well as for the purpose of aiding 
those who already acknowledged his principles, in tracing the spiritual sense 
of Scripture. In the passage which the Lecturer has quoted he has taken care to 
suppress the references to those parts of Swedenborg's writings which state the 
reasons for the several meanings which he has given to the Word. 

That there are more significations than one to a particular word, is a strange 
objection indeed. The same term is used sometimes in a good, at others in a 
bad sense, in which case the meanings are opposite; but the proper sense may 
always be determined from the context and the nature of the subject. In other 
cases the senses are not contradictory or unlike, — but indicate different gradations 
of the same radical meaning -. the which is again determined by the connexion, 
or particular theme. When qualified by these considerations the various 
spiritual significations of Scriptm« terms may be shown to be both rational 
and necessary. If the Lecturer will turn over the leaves of any large diction- 
ary of the Latin, Greek, or English language, he may chance to find numerous 
words with more than a score of meanings. Does he therefore suppose that 
those languages are unsettled in their meaning! or capricious or arbitrary in 
the use of terms ? 

Swedenborg, in fine, teaches that the knowledge derived from the literal, 
grammatical sense of Scripture, with all the aids of sacred criticism — the em- 
ployment of which he by no means discourages— is not all the instruction it 
was intended to afford. Its narratives relate not alone to the history of the 
Jews or their ancestors : its prophecies to something more than the fortunes 
of earthly kingdoms. They who will learn to pierce this outward veil may 
find that its deeper significance relates to the Lord,, to heaven, the church, to 

* The garbled scraps alluded to relate to l he following passages of the Word. (1.) 1 Sam, 
chap, v.andvi. (2.) 2 Kings, ii. 24. (3.) Rev. vii. 5-8. (4.) Rev. xii. 3, 9, 16. (5.) xiii. 
1-11. (6.) xix. 17-22. (7.) xx. 2, 8. (8.) xxii. 1. The reader who wishes to find a de- 
tailed and popular exposition of the spiritual sense of these passages on the principles of Swe- 
denborg, is referred to the following sources of information ; all of which, if the Reviewer told 
the truth, had been examined by him, and all of which are disregarded by him in his pretend- 
ed specimens of the spiritual sense of Scripture as given by Swedenborg and his followers. 
For the first, see Noble's Plen. Insp. 132-5. (2.) N. J. Mag. X. 109. (3.) II. 196-8. (4.) 
III. 161-8, 225. (5.) III. 289. (6.) IV. 400. (7.) IV. 441. (8.) V. 161. For the ra- 
tionale of the meaning of Egypt, Assyria, and Israel, see Plen. Insp. 191-5. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 133 

the things of faith, and to the regeneration of man, or to the opposites of all these. 
And that we may the better conceive the process of regeneration, in which we 
are specially interested, it is also proper that Ave understand the constitution of 
man. According to him, then, all things in the universe which are according 
to divine order have reference to goodness and truth ; those not in order, to 
evil and falsehood. Of both these are different kinds, referable respectively to 
the will and understanding of man; in each of which there are three degrees. 
The general cast of character is determined by the prevalence of the intellect 
or the affections, which draws a still broader line of distinction between the 
sexes. And as man is destined to live for ever, we are told there are three 
heavens prepared to receive the varieties of mankind, each of which is again 
subdivided into two great regions. These are not distinctions without a dif- 
ference, and he who will obtain a definite conception of each, will find the 
spiritual sense gradually becoming clearer to his perceptions, provided lie 
cherish no errors of doctrine inconsistent therewith. 

To descend for a moment to matters which the Reviewer has made the sub- 
jects of special criticism. It is to be understood that "the term Science is not 
employed by our author in the confined sense in which it is now chiefly used 
in English, to express an accurate and formal knowledge of the phenomena 
and laws of nature ; nor yet according to the original meaning of the Word, to 
signify knowledge in general : but to denote knowledge that exists in the mind 
only as a collection of facts, distinct from any exercise respecting it of understand- 
ing or intelligence." These are gathered by the power of observation and 
preserved by memory, to which the natural man is fully competent. Above 
this is the faculty of intelligence or the ability to reach conclusions by a pro- 
cess of reasoning. A still higher gift is that of wisdom, or the power of im- 
mediately perceiving truth — a faculty recognized by the Platonic philosophy, 
and by many Christian writers — and the two last are said by Swedenborg to be 
characteristic respectively of the spiritual and celestial man. In the symbolic 
language of Scripture, the first of these principles is shadowed forth by Egypt, 
the second by Assyria, and the third by Israel. The successive development 
and conjunction of these, is signified in Isaiah xix. 23-25. That Egypt was an 
expressive type of the more external principle of the human mind must be ob- 
vious to those who recal the most striking characteristics of that nation, its 
wonders of mere art, and yet its strange proneness to the most debasing idol- 
atry.* The like analogy holds of Assyria, when we consider her relative vi- 
cinity to and the consequent intercourse of her learned Chaldaeans with the 
subtle and metaphysical philosophers of ancient India. Israel, as occupying 
a central situation relative to the other two, and as being the seat of the church, 
which receives her revelations directly from God, is the still more fitting type of 
that power of direct perception — the highest endowment of the understanding. 
The same principles are also symbolized respectively by a wood, a grove, 
and a garden. In a wood or forest the trees appear promiscuously and with- 
out order. If traversed at all by paths none but those who happen to be fa- 

* That Egypt was the representative of the scientific principle, is recognized by Schlegel in 
his " Philosophy of History," Vol. I. 



134 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

miliar with their windings can tell whither they lead ; and its products are 
comparatively useless until improved by cultivation or wrought into other 
forms. In a grove this confusion measurably disappears. Its trees are dis- 
posed in groups and pervaded by walks which may afford pleasant shade or 
agreeable prospect, yet without yielding fruit. In a garden, finally, we have 
herbs, flowers and fruits, accessible, living, constantly renewed, and arranged 
in an order which is clearly intelligible. Now, however obvious the analogy 
may be to others, all this may appear arbitrary to the Bangor Professor. Be it 
so. " Non tibi spiro !" In No. 208 of the True Christian Religion he may 
possibly divine the cause of its being hid from his eyes. 

" But why use the word Egypt to denote Science, when the proper word 
might be used just as well ?"* And why do the evangelical preachers pray for 
the prosperity of their Zion, when the word " Church" would do as well % or 
for " refreshing showers" and so forth, when they wish to get up "an awaken- 
ing V Simply because symbolical terms are more expressive, less apt to change 
their signification than abstract, and address themselves more directly to the 
imagination and the affections of the mass of mankind, for whom the Word 
was intended as much as for others. 

Swedenborg taught that in ancient times names were expressive of the qual- 
ities of those who bore them, and that all the proper names in Scripture are 
therefore significative. " Why then," asks our critic, "will not the Books of 
Chronicles admit of the mystical interpretation as well as the Book of Kings, 
seeing many of the same names are to be found in both V Why does a 
Handel draw his fine harmonies from the same organ, which in the hands of 
the unmusical, produces only a horrible discord % " To be sure," to use his 
own phrase, " there are good words" even in the libel before us, though so 
badly put together that instead of being a candid and dignified argument, we 
have found it for tha most part a tissue of misrepresentations. If he verily 
supposes that this method of interpretation " puts it in the power of ingenious, 
fanciful, designing men, to make anything or nothing of the Scriptures as they 
please," he is at liberty to make the experiment himself, and we doubt whe- 
ther, with all his gifts in that way, he could succeed in imposing on a single 
New-Churchman, who was a tolerable proficient in the system. 

But the greater number of his strictures relate to instances taken from our 
author's Exposition of the Apocalypse. The motive here may, perhaps, be 
divined without a breach of charity. In that book are foretold the errors and 
apostacy of both the great branches of the Primitive Christian Church, and a 
promise is held forth of a New Church, to which shall be imparted genuine 
faith. Now, if by caricature, garbling, suppression, and the like arts, the 
reader can be diverted from examining the grounds of the interpretation for 
himself, a double object will be accomplished. Suspicion will be made to 
rest on the rule itself, as well as its pretended results, and attention be drawn 
away from the errors of the Protestant faith. 

The Reviewer, if we may judge from his book, has rather a fondness for de- 
tecting contradictions. If his propensity that way be really so strong, we hope 
he will permit us to make a suggestion for his benefit. He professes already 

* Pond, 78. 



DR. POND^S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 135 

to have read largely of the writings of Swedenborg, and his followers ; and as 
he reads with such remarkable expedition he cannot consider it oppressive if 
we propose that he add one other to the catalogue. The book to which we 
refer is Clissold's " Apocalyptic Interpretation." His former search for contra- 
dictions has been thus far unavailing, but if he will " ponder"' this work, he 
may read in them to his heart's content. The two first volumes consist prin- 
cipally of extracts from Evangelical Expositors, who have commented on the 
Apocalypse ; and as such have some claim on his regard. But if the history 
of all literature, sacred or profane, exhibit another such heterogeneous com- 
pound of conflicting hypotheses, and extravagant opinions, yet all advanced 
with the most confident dogmatism — or an equal jumble of unfortunate 
guesses, realizing the ideal of " confusion worse confounded," we have yet to 
learn, where it is to be found. We defy any one who believes the Apocalypse 
to be indeed a book of Divine Inspiration, to read the monstrous record with- 
out lamenting the enormous waste of intellect: the worse than useless expen- 
diture of ingenuity and talent in the numerous attempts to unravel its mys- 
teries, which are there exposed. When the Bangor Professor shall have di- 
gested this olla podrida, he may, with a better grace, complain of Swedenborg's 
Exposition, and if he will moreover extricate his brother-expounders from the 
labyrinth hi which they find themselves, he will be entitled to their lasting 
gratitude. (See Append. G.) 

The extreme importance of Doctrinal Truth, and the incalculable injury 
which has resulted from its absence, appear not to have been sufficiently 
appreciated heretofore by Christains themselves. A writer in the "New- 
Churchman" having exactly expressed our own thoughts on this subject, we 
venture to quote the following : 

" Common sense would seem to dictate that to know himself — to know 
God — to understand his Word, as a necessary preparation to a just discharge 
of duty, was the proper study of man — his obvious interest, as well as the 
highest guerdon of intellectual exertion. Accordingly, Ave hesitate not to say, 
that the neglect of this duty has, in its proximate and remote consequences, 
been productive of more evil than all other causes combined, and the rather 
that most others may be traced to this. 

: - What caused the first corruption of Christianity, and originated the early 
heresies ? Not understanding his Word. What raised up Arius and his furious 
antagonists ? The same cause. What generated Islam, and hermetically 
sealed Paganism against all farther approaches of the Church 1 The misin- 
terpretation of Scripture. What severed the Greek and Latin Churches? 
What gave Romanism it tremendous power, and afforded the pretext for 
withdrawing the precious treasure from the people's hands * And when, m 
the Divine Providence, the nations arose in their indignation, reclaimed their 
lost inheritance, and were about to hurl their spiritual tyrants from their 
thrones, what arrested the reformation, and has bound them ever since in the 
chains then forged anew ? What, even now, in Catholic countries, divides 
the population between Infidelity and Fanaticism, and has rent Protestantism 
into shreds ; which, in its turn, has occasioned a countless host of evils ? 
This — this is the perennial fount from which these bitter waters have flowed. 



136 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

And as a man's ideas of religion occupy the very centre of his mind, and 
modify his views of all other subjects, of course these diversities were 
followed by corresponding outward changes. Minor differences generated 
extreme opinions, followed by prejudice, alienation, wars, inveterate national 
hate." 

Again, we ask, "in the view of these things," is it not natural to wish 
for Divine Interpretation 1 Can we ever be sufficiently grateful if he has in- 
terposed to dispel the doubt and uncertainty which have heretofore brooded 
over his Word 1 

Now this Reviewer affects to be amazed at the idea of the " man-child," 
spoken of in Rev. xii. 5, being " Swedenborg's works." But what if these 
works contain the true doctrine, which the whole sacerdotal caste had not dis- 
covered in seventeen centuries ! and for the want of which the Church had 
been rent into fragments, and well-nigh overwhelmed in ruin ? 

Again, water, from its cleansing and purifying properties, and as the medium 
for conveying nourishment to the body, is, in Scripture language, the symbol 
of truth, which renders analogous benefits to the soul. Like other discoverers 
of treasure, Biblical commentators have been prone to say with the king of 
Egypt of old, " My river is mine own, and I made it for myself."* But when 
this critic would remark on the "modesty" of Swedenborg's declaration that 
the " river of water," predicted in Rev. xxi. 1, is to be fulfilled by his own ex- 
positions, his intended reproach is in truth but a merited encomium ; for our 
author, in his letter to the king of Sweden, has thus disclaimed the credit of 
having originated them. " This knowledge is given to me from our Saviour not for 
any particular merit of mine, but for the great concern of all Christians' 1 salvation and 
happiness:" 1 He never supposed that his interpretations would have either 
beauty or clearness in the eyes of one who worshiped three Persons or Gods ; 
or, who hoped to be justified by his faith alone, and that an unintelligible 
belief. 

The Lecturer touches lightly on the subject of a millennium, the ancient 
reveries on this head, and that of a "personal reign of Christ on earth," being 
now somewhat discredited by the recent explosion of Millerism. Those who 
sincerely wish to see Swedenborg's ideas on the spiritual sense of numbers, can 
find them in a separate volume. Pythagoras, we dare say, was derided by 
all the conceited sciolists of his day for his speculations on the same theme. 

That the Alexandrian Jew^s, and many of the early Fathers believed in a 
Spiritual Sense, is most true ; though they were not successful in penetrating 
its real character. But neither Origen, nor. any other Christian writer was 
Swedenborg's " exemplar" in his method. His early studies lay in a different 
direction, and he was not familiar with such writers. But when he did enter 
on the investigation of sacred truth, he accomplished what they attempted. There 
is, however, a piece of reasoning which this critic appears to have made his 
exemplar, not only here but in other parts of his book. " There is a river in 
Macedon, and there is a river in Monmouth — and there are salmon in both, there- 
fore," &c. 

* Ez. xxix. 3. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 137 

His Canon of Interpretation, " that the words of Scripture should be under- 
stood in the same senses now as when delivered,*' might prove uncertain and 
of difficult application. What is that sense, and how is it to be ascertained % 
Have literal interpreters uniformly concurred here in their judgments ? 
Is not the reverse of this notorious to all 1 The Bible is the Word of God, and 
not of man. When man has recorded it truly, his work, in this respect, is 
done. The Divine Oracles are intended for all generations ; and it is not indis- 
pensable that the reporter, or his first readers shall fully understand them. 
How many of the Prophets fully understood their own prophecies ? Did not 
the Disciples often misunderstand the words of their Master f* Were they not 
to the last mistaken with regard to the Second Coming, and all its kindred topics. 
They probably knew the meaning of our Lord's words as well or better than 
his other hearers ; but if their knowledge was perfect, why did they not write 
a perpetual commentary thereon, and thus prevent the errors of their succes- 
sors, which occasioned the calamities we have told. The spiritual sense of 
Swedenborg is separate and distinct from the literal ; and they mutually illus- 
trate each other; whereas either, if alone, would be a source of doubt and 
conflicting interpretation. 

Before proceeding to another subject, it is proper to advert for a moment to 
a grave charge of the Reviewer, which he has repeated more than once.f It 
is " that Swedenborg rejects more than one-half the sacred books which make 
up the Bible." Now if the offence were true as alleged, the books said to be 
rejected constitute but little more than a fourth in quantity of the whole ; and 
Ave wonder that it did not occur to the accuser, that if the doctrine deduced 
from the former be correct, the latter, if they contradict that doctrine, cannot be 
divine. But it is not true that our author rejects any of the books commonly 
bound up with the Bible, except the Canticles and Apocrypha. His statement 
is as follows : ;; The books of the Word are all those which have the hiternal 
sense ; but those books which have not the internal sense, are not the Word. 
The books of the Word in the Old Testament are, the five books of Moses, the 
book of Joshua, the book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, the two books 
of Kings, the Psalms of David, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Lamenta- 
tions, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, 
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi ; and, in the New Testa- 
ment, the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Revelation. 
The rest have not the internal sense." Now if it be a fact that the rest have not 
the Spiritual Sense — and this can only be tested by learning and applying the 
system of interpretation — the : ' pretence," not for "rejecting," but for placing 
them in a lower grade than the others, is clearly sufficient. Inspiration is a 
thing of degrees. He believed that these books were written with as high a 
degree of inspiration, as this Reviewer/ and Christians generally ascribe to any 
part of the Word : that they contain the truth and may be expounded in accord- 
ance with his doctrine : that they have been and will continue to be highly 
useful to the Church ; and they are often — especially the Acts and Apostolical 
Epistles — quoted by him and his followers, in illustration of his doctrines. If 

* John vi. 63 ; viii. 43 ; Luke xxiv. 45. f Pages 63, 82, 286. 



138 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

it be true that " the earth abideth for ever," the Word of God must endure as 
long. And there should be some unerring test by which to distinguish it from 
all human productions. Internal evidence alone can suffice for this, as all 
external proof is liable, in the lapse of ages, to loss, corruption, change, or un- 
certainty. But to assert that there is no historical evidence for the distinction, 
proves either the ignorance of the Lecturer, or else that he has not read the 
books mentioned in his Preface."* A like division was made by the Jews in 
the books of the Old Testament j our Lord spoke only of " Moses, the Prophets, 
and the Psalms j"f and Eusebius assures us that the beloved disciples added 
the Apocalypse to the four Gospels to complete the Canon of the New Testa- 
ment. We have nothing but uncertain tradition, or the arbitrary decision of 
councils, or the opinion of private Doctors in favor of the other books. But 
our space will not permit us to add more on this subject to what has been 
already and better said by others. 



CHAPTER IX. 

swedenborg's doctrine of the future life vindicated from dr. pond's cavils. 

The Scriptures not only teach us that man is immortal, but that there is a 
future state of happiness or misery, to one or the other of which he is surely 
tending. When this has become the settled conviction of a rational being, can 
anything be more natural than that he should desire to know something of 
that country which is to be his eternal home 1 There was a time when man 
walked with his God, and enjoyed friendly intercourse with the denizens of 
that world, but he immersed himself in sense and the blessed vision was 
closed. The individual cannot now draw aside at pleasure the curtain that 
hides the future from his view : and the notices given in the Sacred Word, 
though far more numerous than are generally supposed, are so brief and scat 
tered that but few can compose them into a picture sufficiently harmonious 
for steady contemplation. Yet the desire of knowledge still remains, nor do 
the Sacred Oracles forbid the hope that yet more light will be vouchsafed in accordance 
with the natural and lawful wish. And in the absence of positive information 
the powers of conjecture and imagination have been employed to divine the 
future condition. So long indeed has Fancy rioted in this field, that it has 
come to be regarded as something like fairy-land, which is not to be invaded 
by the profane step of matter-of-fact speculation, and to attribute to such 
scenes aught that resembles Earth, is too gross for sublimated minds. A 
shadowy vagueness hovers over the landscape, its features being for the most 
part a blank, and where there has been an effort to be more definite, it has 

* Noble's Plen. Ins. App. II. In this Appendix, the reasons for thus distinguishing be- 
tween the sacred books, as deduced from internal evidence, are drawn out at some length. 
When Dr. P. shall have iairly disposed of these, it will be time enough to enter on the histo- 
rical question. Was the former rather too hard a nut to crack ? Or did he simply follow 
out his system of avoiding replies already made to his stale objections ? 

j Luke xxiv. 27, 44. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 139 

rarely been attended with happier success. For the picture has been modi- 
fied and colored by the doctrinal opinions previously held, and has re-acted to 
sustain or confirm them in turn. If we ask the Tri-personalist believer in the 
resurrection of the material body, "where is heaven ?" he answers, that it is 
somewhere in space, but whether it be in the sun of our system, or in a greater 
central sun. or beyond the stars, or is to be on this earth when the soul and 
body shall have been re-united, he cannot tell. And whether the abode of the 
lost be beneath the ground, or in the moon, or in a comet, or some other part 
of material space, he is equally uncertain. In the conception of such an one 
as the Father sits on the throne of Heaven, with his Son at his right hand, and 
the Holy Spirit before him, and surrounded by a winged order of beings, the 
ministers of his (or their) pleasure, cast in full perfection and retaining their 
original purity, so the devil is the president of hell, and attended by his min- 
ions who fell with him from a more exalted state. How natural also that the 
believer in predestination and the validity of a death-bed repentance, should 
suppose that simple admission into this place is the one condition of happiness, 
and that as the Deity has his swift-winged messengers to execute his will in 
other parts of his dominion, so their sole duty is to surround the throne and 
sing the praises of Him who has made them the subjects of his distinguishing 
grace. Nor has their "God of vengeance" failed to provide a place of pun- 
ishment for those whom his omnipotent will chose to " pass by," though they 
perchance may have done nothing more to forfeit his favor than the others. 
Such is the great outline of the picture. And so long as this was not disturbed, 
the filling up and accompaniments might be left, as we said, to the imagination 
of each individual. If the excellence of painting consists in loading the can- 
vass with gaudy colors without regard to perspective, or if the perfection of 
poetry is attained by clothing its subject in the hues of the most improbable 
fiction, or if eloquence be, as has sometimes been said, the art of exaggera- 
tion, then surely never has any theme been so adorned by art, nor ought any 
to be now more attractive. But the true master of the pencil observes 
the laws of proportion, and the variety and relief of light and shade. The genu- 
ine poet does not complain that science has disenchanted the world of all its 
beauty. And the most effective eloquence is that which with simple language 
and just thoughts makes its direct appeal to reason and the heart. He also, 
who wishes to deter from sin will find his denunciations the more effective by 
adding nothing incredible to the suffering which inevitably follows its com- 
mission. 

And such is the representation given by Swedenborg of the other life, though 
it be regarded as simply the product of his own brain, and not, as he solemnly 
avers, a deduction from "things seen and heard." Nor are we surprised that 
it should be viewed as tame and spiritless, or otherwise unworthy the lofty 
theme, by those whose judgments have been intoxicated with the extravagan- 
zas of popular poets and preachers. This world is but a state of probation, 
and as such, the scene for the commencement of a career which is to con- 
tinue for ever. Here, therefore, we find all varieties of character mingled and 
moving apparently on the same plane. As the future world is also designed 
for the residence of men on their departure from hence, is it improbable that it 



140 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

is in some sort a continuation of this, with circumstances somewhat similar 1 
There, indeed, we learn they will be ultimately classified according to their 
fixed characters. The blessed will perceive each other as men, and the objects 
with which they were once familiar, divested of whatever can offend, refined, 
purified, immeasurably exalted, and all as the reflection of their own internal 
states, while the converse will be equally true of those who have disqualified 
themselves for the like happiness, and in either case the individual will have 
wrought out his own destiny without any irreversible decree of his Maker. 

In this aspect, the representations of Swedenborg appear to us as scriptural, 
rational, and credible, apart from his own character as a witness. And the general 
air of probability by which they are characterised has been conceded by cau- 
tious and sober thinkers, who did not accept his doctrine generally. But here, 
also, as elsewhere, Dr. Pond finds nothing to approve, and though we wish him, 
and doubt not he has, a better model for his general conduct, yet herein he ap- 
pears to have taken as his exemplar a leading character in the most cele- 
brated of German dramas, and enacts " the spirit that still denies." It is easier we 
know to criticise than to originate or improve. But we regret that Dr. Pond 
did not draw out his own ideas of what was probable on this head, for then 
should we have been better prepared to weigh his judgment of the testimony 
of Swedenborg. 

In responding to other objections we have anticipated certain explanations 
which would more properly have appeared here, but were they repeated in 
connexion with the brief statements now to be made, their aspect would still 
remain so fragmentary as to convey a most imperfect and therefore unjust 
conception of the whole. Our view of the other life is so different from that 
which generally prevails, that we despair of imparting to the reader to whom 
the subject is altogether new, within our limits, anything like an adequate idea, 
and for further satisfaction would commend him to that portion of the works 
of Swedenborg in which it is especially treated. We must, therefore, content 
ourselves with a very brief notice of the oft-repeated, oft-refuted objections of 
this Reviewer. 

Among the distinctive teachings of Swedenborg relative thereto, are the fol- 
lowing, some of which have been already advanced : " There are two worlds, 
a natural and spiritual, the latter within the former, and though distinct there- 
from yet united thereto by correspondence.' 1 '' Man, while in this world is really 
an inhabitant of both, for he carries enclosed within his natural body a spirit- 
ual body, or spirit which is the real man himself. When the former is laid aside 
by death, it is never resumed, but the latter rises up in that world which is to 
be his eternal abode. The home of the spirit then is not beyond the stars or 
in any part of space, but within the visible world. There are in Scripture nu- 
merous and clear intimations of these truths, though often and most strangely 
overlooked* The instances there recorded are also frequent, in which the de- 

* Of these we select the following: Ex. xxiv. 9-11 ; Num. xxiv. 3 ; 1 Sam. ix. 9; 1 Ks- 
xviii. 12; 2 Ks. vi. 17; Zech. i. 8-18; ii. 1; iv. 23; Ez. xi. ; 1. 24; viii. 3; iii. 12, 14; 
Dan. viii. 1, 2 ; ix. 21 ; x. 1, 7, 8 ; Acts viii. 39 ; x. 11-13 ; 2 Cor. xii. 1, 5, 7 ; Rev. i. 10, 
12, 13, and Passim. The reader who wishes to prosecute the inquiry will find most of 
them collected in " Bromley on Extraordinary Dispensations." 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 141 

parted have been permitted— not to revisit this world, that were impossible— 
but to be seen by persons still living, whose spiritual eyes (though generally and 
wisely closed) were opened for that purpose. And such a power, possessed 
by every man, maybe called into action whenever Providence sees best. Such 
was the spiritual vision of the Patriarchs and Prophets, of the Apostles and 
early Christians ; and though many since have falsely pretended to its exer- 
cise, yet it is not superstition to believe that all were not deceivers or deceived. 
The time having arrived when knowledge was to be imparted which was im- 
portant " to the great concerns of all Christians, salvation and happiness," 
Swedenborg, as we believe, was selected as the instrument of its conveyance, 
and it was by this method that he learned the things, a part of which we are 
now stating. 

In opposition to the incongruous heresy so widely prevalent, which teaches 
that God is " without body or parts," and yet that he exists in three persons, 
he declares in accordance with the Scriptures, that God is a man* and no other 
man than our Lord Jesus Christ in his divine humanity, who dwells in light in- 
accessible.! or in a spiritual sun. Beneath his all-seeing eye, though at an infi- 
nite distance, are spread out hi separate expanses the three heavens spoken of 
by Paul. J separated by the intermediate "world of spirits," or first receptacle 
of departed soids, from the similarly divided abode of the infernals. These 
three great regions make up " the spiritual world," whose sole inhabitants are 
of the human race, for "man" and " angel" are convertible terms, and demons 
are but the spirits of the lost. But neither in the first or third of these grand 
divisions are the gathered residents blended in the confusion we see in this 
world, but all are collected into societies and arranged according to an exact 
order, determined by their respective characters, which have now been de- 
veloped and most accurately discriminated, congenial spirits being alone asso- 
ciated. 

The human form is the highest and most perfect of forms, uniting the ex- 
cellencies of all others. It is the form of God himself, the image in which man 
was made. It is the form he still wears when he has become an angel. It is 
in this form that each society of angels is disposed. || It is the form in which 
the unnumbered societies of angels are arranged which together make up the 
Universal Heaven, and which is, therefore, called " The Grand Man." 

Such in brief is the representation of Swedenborg, and this last idea which 



* Gen. xxxii. 24 ; Josh. v. 13-15 ; vi. 2 ; Is. vi. 1 ; Ez. i. 26 ; Dan. x. IS ; Rev. i. 13. 

t Ps. lxxxiv. 11 ; 1 Tim. vi. 56. J 2 Cor. xii. 2. 

§ In accordance with this law Swedenborg says : " It has heen given me to see a society 
consisting of thousands of angels, as one man of middle stature" to which he afterwards adds 
that it so appears " at a distance," and to others, but not to themselves. Of course, on a nearer 
approach, it is resolved into the individuals who compose it. Dr. Pond with his usual sa- 
gacious fidelity, quotes the fist part of the sentence and interprets it as meaning that each 
angel was dwarfed to less than one thousandth part of a man ! Whereupon he vents a starve- 
ling jest in the reflection that they must have been " a small souled company." However 
that may be, we doubt if they could have excelled in that respect certain religionists, of a 
class not uncommon both in Britain and America, which are probably better known to Dr. 
Pond than Swedenborgians, and of whose principles a faithful account is given in the Edin 
burg Review, No. LXXX. Art. 7, the which we also commend to his perusal. 



142 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

competent and unbiassed judges have pronounced one of the most sublime 
and appropriate that ever entered the human mind, is repudiated by this pro- 
found, and fastidious, and magnanimous critic, who, moreover, never calls 
names,* as being " supremely ridiculous, destitute alike of sense and decency, 
and worthy only of contempt !" A Shakspeare was lost in wonder and ad- 
miration when he contemplated that miracle of creation, the human form. 
" What a piece of work is man ! ... in form and moving, how express and 
admirable ! . . . the paragon of animals ! the glory of the world /" The Gre- 
cian masters of old and the Raphaels and Angelos of a Christian Age, have 
sunk in despairing efforts to transfer to marble or canvass their bright ideal of 
its capacities and perfection. It is the form in which are collected all the 
beauty, and grandeur, and harmony of earth, the microcosm in which are ex- 
emplified all the arts and sciences which have slowly been gathered through 
ages of meditation, from the numberless manifestations dispersed through the 
greater world. It is the form whose constitution and movements furnish anal- 
ogies to illustrate those of all societies of men, from the family through all other 
subordinate bodies up to nations, and states, and empires, and the Church of 
the Lord himself. It is the form before which instinctive reverence has ever 
bowed as the representative of Deity. " You touch heaven," said Novalis, 
" when you lay your hands on a human body." Yet Dr. Pond pronounces it 
indecent ! in Swedenborg to carry out the idea, because, forsooth, this form, al- 
though the " wonder of wonders," and the work of Infinite Wisdom is made 
up of parts, some of which he affects to think are not to be spoken of to 
Christian men ! And what, we would willingly know after such puerile and 
contemptible criticism, what does he regard as the more fitting disposition of 
the countless millions who pass from hence % Would he have them jumbled 
together like a mob in a single room, or on the same plane ? Or what more 
mathematical figure would he substitute therefor 1 Must they be arranged in 
circles or squares, or drawn up in ranks by battalions, standing on clouds 
with no employment but unceasing song or prayer f 

But farther, — the immortality and happiness of man depends on his conjunc 
tion with his Maker ; and this conjunction is continually maintained by the ef- 
fluence of his Spirit which continually pervades creation through all its 
spheres. Divine Providence — which does nothing without means — without 
doubt employs the most appropriate, and though sufficient for the end, yet 
none superfluous. How could this law of its operation be better illustrated 
than by an arrangement which (with reverence be it spoken) facilitates the 
government of His Spiritual Kingdom, and the bestowal of happiness on the 
varieties of character, according to their diversified capacities % And what 
other form is there which admits of ever increasing additions without marring 
its symmetry 1 The principle in truth is as fertile as it is grand. Nor is there 
in the whole compass of human thought, an idea which is susceptible of such 
varied and useful application, or which carries light and order into so many 
intricate subjects of inquiry. If then it be true that the inhabitants of Heaven 
and Hell are all of our race : if the former are truly wise, and the latter in a 
greater or less degree insane : if their several states have been induced by 

* See Preface 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 143 

their conduct here : if however their apparent characters on first entering the 
intermediate world, and until their final destination is ascertained, do not differ 
materially from what they exhibited here ; and if those states are finally manifested 
by corresponding outward appearances, according to a universal law of that'world, as of 
ten declared by Swedenborg, what is there in any of the passages excepted to by 
the Reviewer, that should offend our reason, while they are in accordance with 
a general theory which is rational hi itself? If true knowledge and pure affec- 
tions elevate and refine the character here, will they do otherwise there 1 If 
vice and folly brutalize and degrade here, will then operation be suspended in 
the other life 1 If fraudulent cunning is apt to recoil on him who employs it 
in this world, why should it not prove his punishment, and be shown as real 
folly in the other ? If party spirit lead men to confirm themselves hi erroneous 
opinions, the everlasting laws of divine order will not be altered for their ac- 
commodation, but they must reap in the other life according as they have 
sowed in this. In fine ' ; is it contrary to common sense to believe that all will 
then think, feel, speak, act, enjoy and suffer according to the interior nature 
which they have acquired hi the world, and which they will no longer be able to 
repress or disguise ?" That, as the divine counsels may be violated hi various 
ways, so their neglect or breach will be followed by as many several species 
of disorder in the spiritual behigs who have voluntarily perverted their powers 
and that the suffering will be equally varied — bearing some analogy to, and 
naturally growing out of, the offence ? 

If these views are reasonable — and that they are, who that dares to think for 
himself, or wishes to entertahi just and honorable ideas of his Maker, will venture 
to deny — Ave have yet another inquiry to make. If on being transferred to 
another sphere of being, Ave are not metamorphosed into animals of a different 
species, what other supposition is possible than that man will still be in circum- 
stances appropriate to his yet imperfect nature ? that there shall be a founda- 
tion whereon to stand analagous to earth, with its varied surface of mountain, 
hill and valley; and its scenery, though all spiritual, bearing some resem 
blance to a natural landscape ? Yet such a picture, which is lauded as highly 
attractive or sublime when drawn out in the harmonious numbers of Dante 
Milton or Pollok, or hi the sermons and sacred lyrics* of the Orthodox, — or as 
probable, when set forth in the conjectural dissertations of Watts, Isaac Taylor, 
and Bishop Mant, — is instantly changed when confirmed by the report of one 
who has had occular demonstration of its truth. Accordingly our Reviewer is 
deeply scandalised at hearing that there appear in the Spiritual World, ani- 
mals, trees and plants ; as also food and raiment, houses and temples, speech, 
writing, books, libraries, and particularly the divine AVord, in Heaven; forget- 
ting, however, that in every particular here named, the testimony of Swedenborg, is 
corroborated by tlwt of Scripture, as any one may satisfy himself by consult- 
ing the references below. f And if farther light is ever granted, how are we to 

* The following lines will suggest to certain readers many of a similar character : — 
" Sweet fields, beyond the swelling flood, stand dressed in living green." 
" There everlasting Spring abides and never witheringy?owers, &c." 

f 1. The prophets when in the spirit, saw lambs, and sheep, and other animals. For 
the rest, see Rev. xxii. 2; Ps. lxxviii. 25; Mark xvi. 5; Luke xxiv. 4; John xx. 12; Rev. 



144 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

receive clearer ideas unless they be derived from a more particular and defi- 
nite account of what is there given in general terms % Nor is it improbable — 
as Revelation has always been progressive ; that many things altogether new 
would be added to those partially known before. 

vii. 9, 13, 14; Ez. ix. 2, 3; John xiv. 2; 2 Cor. v. 1; Rev. vii. 15; xi. 19; Ez. ix. 3; 
Rev. x. 2 ; Ps. cxix. S9. Dr. P. quotes, as a specimen of the incredible, from a Memorable 
Relation of Swedenborg, which tells that an indignity offered by an obstinate heretic to the 
Sacred Word in the world of spirits, met with present retribution — the profane touch of the 
individual and himself being both instantly repelled. If he will recur to I Sam. v. 1-4 ; vi. 
19, 20, he will find a parallel and quite as strong a statement concerning the Word on Earth. 

2. He repeats the old story of " arts and trades" in that world similar to those on earth. 
By this time, we take it for granted, the reader will not be surprised when we assure him the 
pertinacious Doctor knew better all the time. The mistake would have been natural and 
pardonable, for there has been a mis-translation here, but that it has been corrected by Mr. 
Noble in his " Appeal" (pp. 349-352, and note), one of the books which was read by the 
Reviewer " with the deepest attention." The terms in the original are " artificia," " opera," 
which are not only very general in their signification, but when explained by the context, 
and limited by statements elsewhere made, prove that Swedenborg could not have meant 
what has been frequently supposed. " He constantly affirms that everything relating to food, 
habitation, and clothing is, in the eternal world, provided and given gratis immediately from 
the Lord ; and with these are connected nearly all of such employments which are known 

on earth As to manual operations in heaven, all that our author says respecting 

them is, that they are such as cannot be described by any words of natural language. In 
the intermediate region or world of spirits, however, which is the first receptacle of departed 
spirits, and where, at first, their state is not very different from what it was in this life, 
there are employments more similar, it would appear, to some upon earth ; and it is by 
confounding our author's descriptions of this state ivith his descriptions of heaven, that his ad- 
versaries have framed the most specious of their misrepresentations. According to Swedenborg's 
mode of describing this subject, every one, on entering the other life, is at first in his exter- 
nals, and then in a state not unlike that in which he was in this world : but this is succes- 
sively put off, as his internals are opened ; when the whole scene changes with him and he 
passes to his final home in heaven or in hell. Of the nature of the employments in hell he 
offers no description beyond this ; that they are mean drudgeries." 

3. The " judiciary proceedings" to which he alludes, refer to friendly arbitraments by 
wise umpires for settling differences of opinion, to which any imperfect beings, however 
exalted (Job iv. 17, 18 ; xv. 15), may be supposed as liable. 

4. Again, If man carries with him his whole body complete into the other world, the 
organs of sense included, we may fairly presume that none of these will be without its ap- 
propriate objects and gratifications, — as also its natural repugnances, — and the denunciation 
of such a principle as " absurd" by this critic, will be rather an argument of its proba-_ * 
bility with the discerning. Although the Catholics have used the phrase, there may be such ^' 
a thing as the " odor of sanctity;" and while the blest are delighted with the fragrance which 

is waited to them from surrounding scenes, — the wicked, who have so perverted their whole 
being, as to call " good, evil" and " evil, good," and to " glory in their shame," may find their 
delight in what is opposite and offensive. 

5. We must again remind the Doctor, that the appearances before the infernals are phan- 
tasms, and are not real in fact, though so to them while they last. And though man is not 
reformed in this life " by threats and punishments," he may be deterred by them, in the other, 
from the commission of offences to which he yet retains an inclination. (Pond, 219, 220, note.) 

6. He quotes (222) the beginning of the description of the punishment of the ruthless 
violator of innocence, and breaks off when his permanent horrors are declared, — under the 
pretext, perhaps, that to give all Swedenborg's Memorable Relations, " would be to re-publish 
no inconsiderable part of his volumes!" (227.) (They may possibly make as much as a 
twentieth.) He takes care, however, to publish the abstract of an entire discourse (231-4) ; 
and " strange" as that same snow-bank sermon may sound to him now — if he will read 
over his own Confession of Faith (and with no better attention than he has given to the 
works of Swedenborg), he may recognize every position of the discourse in that document. 
Many have heard every sentiment of it from evangelical pulpits in this world, and why 
should not those who are confirmed in such faith, preach it there. Time was, we suppose, 
when the like was fulminated from every pulpit in New England ; and if their occupants 
are more cautious now, some of them do not fail to insinuate in private " the strong meat," 
as they call it, whenever they can find strong stomachs to digest it. 

7. One of the functions of angels, according to Swedenborg, is to inspire good and true 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 145 

Before closing our remarks on this head, there is one other subject to which 
we must briefly advert, as being somewhat germane to Swedenborg' s account 
of the spiritual world. Is this the only earth in the universe ? If there be 
others, are they inhabited by men 1 And, if peopled like our own, can a man 
during his life in this world become acquainted with the character and condi- 
tion of their inhabitants 1 



affections and thoughts into the minds of men, who are still in the flesh. The celebrated St. 
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, was observed by him to be thus employed with reference to 
those in a certain province of Africa ; and this, according to Dr. Pond, is being in " literal 
Africa" at the present day. 

He wonders also, how the good old Bishop, who was once a strenuous asserter of Predes- 
tination, should have come to be in favor with Swedenborg. In any event it would not be 
stranger than that Mr. John Wesley should become an authority with a Calvinist. But we 
will suggest a probable explanation. Now Mr. W. himself thinks that this Father was 
never a Predestinarian in the modern sense of that term ; but that certain hasty, exaggerated 
expressions, which escaped him in the heat of his controversy with Pelagius, were " gleaned 
up by Mr. Calvin," and wrought as part of the materials into the system which goes by the 
name of the latter, who thenceforth gave this Father as authority for his own extreme opin- 
ions. But supposing it true that the old Bishop went the entire length, it is not unreasonable 
to believe that on entering the sphere of truth, he renounced his errors on this head, and re- 
turned to his earlier .and more rational views ; and that, being a lover of truth for its own 
sake, he accepted its dictates on other and still more important subjects ; and farther still, 
that on learning the grievous injury he had unwittingly done, he should seek to repair the 
same by inspiring more correct sentiments into the minds of the living. He published large 
" Retractations" of error during the latter years of his life ; he may have done more in the 
same kind afterwards. His example, we have the charity to believe, will be followed by 
man}' a worthy and honest evangelical of this day, who has hereditarily, or by the force of 
other untoward circumstances, imbibed the like unworthy prejudices. 

8. Another discovery is, that Swedenborg " despised the Jews," which were impossible, 
if he were a " religious" man. To this we have responded before, but it may be as suitable 
an occasion as any other for explaining a statement of his with regard to a most distin- 
guished individual of. that nation, which seems to have taken the orthodox by surprise. 
Though he repeatedly declares that the doctrines promulgated by him were derived from 
neither angel nor spirit, but directly from the Lord himself, and though he published nothing 
else of the truth of which he was not entirely assured ; yet with regard to the state of per- 
sons, or sects, in the other life, his information, being derived " from things seen and heard," 
was progressively obtained, and in some cases subject to correction. His " Spiritual Diary" 
was the principal repository of these experiences, daily written down as they occurred. 
Though its materials were extensively used in the preparation of the works published under 
his inspection, yet itself was never published from the original until very recently; nor are 
its declarations taken by New Churchmen as evidence of the final state of any Scripture per- 
sonage therein mentioned, as it is an imperfect work, apparently intended only for his private 
use, and does not contain the experiences of the last eight or ten years of his life. 

Now we learn from his authoritative works, that the Jews, on entering the spiritual 
world, generally desire, as is natural, to be permitted a sight of such ancient Hebrews as 
Abraham, Moses, David ; and that as these calls are incessant, some other Jew is frequently 
allowed to personate one or the other of these, for the purpose in part of disabusing their 
brethren of the fond fancy that their patriarchs, or ancient leaders, or the nation in general, 
were the especial favorites of Heaven, on account of some extraordinary personal qualities, 
or for some more arbitrary reason. In the Spiritual Diary, a person presents himself to 
Swedenborg in the character of David, and this person, he learns, is neither in his quality 
or condition such as the orthodox generally suppose David to be. But whether he was the 
real David or some other is rendered doubtful by another passage of the same work, which 
speaks of David as being among the blest. 

Nor, in one sense, do we deem it very important to ascertain. We need scarcely 
say, that we take no pleasure in hearing that any one has taken the downward road. But 
David's public and private character arc two different things. It is with the former — his 
public, representative capacity — and not with his quality as an individual, that the reader 
of the Scriptures is chiefly concerned. And it is by confounding these two things which 
should ever be distinguished, not only in this case, but in that of other persons who figure 
in the Old Testament, that much injury has been done to the cause of truth by its sincere but 



146 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

The advance of astronomical science which has determined the position' 
and relative importance of onr planet in the system to which it belongs, has 
settled the first question ; and the theory of a plurality of worlds may now be 
regarded as established without danger of its being again shaken. The pro- 
bability of their being also inhabited by reasonable beings, is strengthened by 
so many other considerations that we need not the plausible and pleasant phi- 
losophical romance of Fontenelle to persuade our assent. The Creator neither 
puts forth his energies without a purpose, nor is he wasteful of his means. 
The Prophet declares emphatically that this earth was made to be inhabited* 
The laws of the divine order are uniform in their operation. It is not then a 
hasty inference that other planets both of our own and other systems in the 
Universe, are teeming with rational life. 

And such, accordingly, we take to be the general sentiment of Christians at 
the present day — though it has not been uniformly so. For the Infidel has 
seized the concession as a favorable point from which to direct his battery on 
a very darling, but very vulnerable doctrine of the orthodox — we mean that of 
a vicarious atonement. We need not explain here the precise character of the 
assailing argument. Suffice it to say — it was regarded as so very formida- 
ble that the powerful intellect of a Chalmers was called to the rescue. He 
obeyed the summons, and in vindicating his faith, poured forth that well- 
known storm of eloquence, his astronomical discourses. When the first im- 
pression had subsided, it could not escape the sagacity of his cooler brethren, 
that, so far as that doctrine was concerned, this celebrated performance after 
all contained more of rhetoric than logic ; and one of them actually pro- 
ceeded to cut the Gordian knot by denying the probability of any other 
world being inhabited than this. But even as political revolutions " do not 
go backward," we may likewise despair of ever witnessing a general revo- 
cation of a position so thoughtlessly yielded, and the Orthodox must reconcile, 



mistaken advocates. For such imprudence has given occasion to the infidel to vent his 
sarcasm on a Book which could declare that one whose career was stained with ferocious 
cruelty, treachery and revenge, with sensuality, polygamy, adultery, and murder, could yet 
be " a man after God's own heart !" and we must own that we know of no other satis- 
factory mode of vindicating the Scripture than the following, which we adopt from Mr. T. 
Hartley Home. " In what sense was he a man after God's own heart ? We answer : In 
his strict attention to the law and worship of God; in his recognizing, throughout hiswhok- 
conduct, that Jehovah was King in Israel, and that he himself was only his vicegerent; in 
never attempting to alter any of those laws, or in the least degree to change the Israelitish 
constitution. In all his public official conduct, he acted according to the Divine mind, and 
fulfilled the will of his Maker This expression is never used in reference to his pri- 
vate or personal moral conduct. It is used wholly in reference to his uniform regard to the 
promotion of the interests of pure religion, notwithstanding all temptations to idolatry and 
persecution." (Home's Introduction, V ol. I. p. 565.) 

That David was a man of mixed character there is reason to believe. There was at 
time-; a display of generous, noble qualities. He was brave, accomplished, magnificent, in 
his happier moods humble and devout — and we hope he sincerely repented of that act 
which for deep and complicated baseness has scarcely its parallel in history. Yet, to our 
mind, the reflections of Bayle on the Scripture record of his life, — though retracted at the 
instance of his brethren of the Reformed Church of France — have never been set aside; 
and certain it is, that Peter, an inspired Apostle, publicly declared, more than one thousand 
years after his death, that " that David is not ascended into the Heavens !" (Acts 
ii. 31.) 

* Isaiah xiv. 18. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 147 

as best they can, their religion and their philosophy, which are so seriously in 
conflict on this as on many other points * 

But is it possible for man while in the body to more than surmise the cha- 
racter and circumstances of the dwellers on other worlds % Swedenborg 
solemnly declares that it is : that he was enabled to obtai n actual knowledge on 
this subject : and that it was within the scope of his comprehensive commis- 
sion to communicate a part of the same to his fellow-men, and as he has 
clearly explained the mode in which this knowledge was received, there must 
now be some other apology for withholding belief than any intrinsic impossi- 
bility in the thing itself. Why then should this be thought more improbable 
than any other species of Revelation ? Or, the power of spiritual vision being 
once conceded, shall man undertake to define the limits to which Divinity may 
permit it to ascend ? The obstacles which retard the transition from place to 
place in this world do not hinder there. It is similarity of state which brings 
the inhabitants of the spirit- world into each other's presence and communion. 
If Swedenborg was so • far relieved from the trammels of the flesh as to be 
indulged in conference with the departed at all ; what should hinder his being 
borne in spirit to the spheres of those who once dwelt in other parts of the 
Lord's dominion : and that successively as he was brought into corresponding 
states, or that they should come to him in turn % And, as they brought all their 
memory along with them, that he should learn from them the aspect of their 
ancient homes, or the character and condition of their former and present asso- 
ciates 1 Certainly, the Evangelical are estopped from all objections on the 
score of intrinsic difficulty ; for they profess to believe in the ministration of 
angels, whose home they place at a yet greater distance, even beyond the 
stars ! 

Nevertheless, such knowledge or experience, however interesting in itself 
or important as illustrating other subjects in which we are more immediately 
concerned, is, if not entirely unique, so far out of the range of ordinary acqui- 
sition, that he who pretends to its possession must expect to meet with in- 
credulity from large classes of men. Some will believe nothing but what is 
tangible or passes before their eyes. Others, who fear the imputation of easy 
faith, will plead the numberless marvels which have been imposed in Protean 
forms on the weakness of mankind as sufficient warrant for rejecting revelations 
which they choose to pronounce useless. The excessive egotism of others 
again, forbids their rising above the earth even in thought, while they suppose 
that this is virtually the centre cf the universe, and themselves the exclusive 
objects of divine consideration, for whose sole benefit the immense apparatus 
of surrounding worlds was provided. And all such have an ever-ready pre- 
text for cloaking their real motives in the pretended dread of "being wise 
above what is written.'' 

But he who reflects aright on the greatness, the wisdom, the power, and 
providence of the Divine, and the extent of His dominion " who made Arctu- 
rus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south :" when he sees " the 
stars walking in their brightness," nnd remembers that there are others with- 

* See the la= M X >bh *s recent volume of Letter? on Christian Doctrine. 



148 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

out number which escape his vision, will also be willing to believe that he 
who made them all and yet did stoop to save one which was rapidly sinking 
into night, may also have " other sheep which are not of this fold." And as 
they are all the children of the same Father, for whose power nothing is too 
great, for whose care nothing too minute, so he may permit his subjects of one 
province to learn that in other and distant places of his empire they have 
brethren who are also " the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand." 

Now Dr. P., whatever may be his lurking disbelief, does not venture openly 
to deny the possibility of such experience, or that its subject might be allowed 
to communicate the results to the world. But aware of existing prejudices and 
apparently disposed to turn them to account at the earliest period and to the 
fullest effect, " he knew not where else he could so well" (for his own purposes 
doubtless) introduce his comments on this matter, as in his first chapter ! although 
he had a separate one towards the close of the book exclusively devoted to 
Swedenborg's account of the spiritual world. The cunning Isaac ! And then 
by way of placing his fairness beyond suspicion, he has ransacked the small 
volume, entitled "Earths in the Universe," in which Swedenborg had recorded 
these disclosures, for such curious particulars as, with the aid of his own pe- 
culiar method of collocation, might serve to " answer" his readers. And after 
all he has produced nothing to which a parallel might not be found in the history of our 
own Earth* We think also that if these narratives could afford " amusement" 
to this grave Professor, they ought to soften his heart and induce forgiveness 
of an author, some of whose Memorable Relations concerning individuals nearer 
home, appear to have excited his ire in no small degree. 

And first he thinks it " a suspicious circumstance" that Swedenborg saw no 
spirits from any other planets of our system than those which were then known ; 
and asks why lie told us nothing of the people of Herschel and the Asteroids ? 
But Swedenborg does not say that all the planets of every system are actually 
inhabited ; only that they are designed to be when prepared for it. Dr. P. may 
consult his friends, the Geologists, as to how long a season of preparation was 
required for rendering this earth a fit dwelling for man. The probability is that 
Uranus and the others are not yet in that condition : and until he can prove to 
the contrary, we shall not be much disturbed by his suspicions. 

"I had a desire," said Swedenborg, in the introduction to his book, " to know 
whether other earths exist, and of what sort they are, and what is the nature 
and quality of their inhabitants : moreover what is the particular genius, man- 
ner of life, and divine worship, prevailing amongst the inhabitants of each par- 
ticular earth." To such points as these were his inquiries directed in his in- 
terviews with those who were permitted to impart the knowledge he sought. 
Alive to the infinite evils which idolatry, polytheism, false doctrine, hypocrisy 
and spiritual tyranny, which false learning, hollow refinement, and love of 
self and of the world, had produced here, he naturally desired to know whether 

* See Mr. Hayden's " Review of Dr. Pond's Facts and Philosophy of Swedenborg." We 
ought before to have acknowledged the pleasure with which we perused a paper which is 
marked by both learning and ability. His reply to the strictures on the philosophy of our 
author is so complete and satisfactory that nothing was left for us but to glean the field which 
Mr. H. had reaped before 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 149 

they existed and were equally baneful and desolating in their operation on 
other orbs. He therefore inquired as to their ideas of Divinity — whether they 
believed that He existed in three persons ? how they worshiped Him ? wheth- 
er they had a written revelation among them ? whether they also believed that 
man could be saved by mere thought 1 

He would farther know whether their wisdom consisted in 6oo/c-learning and 
deference to man's authority — as does so much of ours 1 Whether their states 
of society and manners or their civil politics resembled those of earth 1 Whethr 
er they were cursed with our spurious civilization ? Whether (to indulge an 
anachronism) such fears as alarmed statesmen of the school of Malthus, agi- 
tated them also 1 These and such as these were the subjects of his curiosity. 
Dr. P. in like case, might have questioned them as to their belief in three 
Gods, Justification by Faith alone, Predestination, and " the five points" gene- 
rally. 

Our readers, it is hoped, are now furnished with explanations which will en- 
able them to determine on the candor and fairness of this Reviewer in his cita- 
tions, and the merit of his particular criticisms on our author's account of the 
future life. In this part of our reply we have stood on the defensive. But we 
can assure both him and them, that if we had chosen to adopt a different course, 
the weapons of retort and the materials for carrying the war into hostile ter- 
ritory are numerous and at hand, in the books and declamations of evangelical 
Doctors. If we were animated by a. spirit of retaliation, we might present in 
startling contrast the representations which they have given of the eternal state 
and its retributions — accounts wild, extravagant, puerile, ridiculous, incoherent, 
dishonorable to God as impeaching his attributes of justice and mercy, incon- 
sistent with His Word and with the nature of man as a spiritual being, im- 
probable, incredible, impossible ; accounts which have imposed on the weak, 
but with the discerning have often brought religion into contempt, and the 
natural recoil from whose hideous pictures has generated an opposite heresy 
of licentious tendency ; representations, in fine, which, have raised insane hopes 
in the wicked, have tortured the sincere Christian with useless fears, and driv- 
en the timid to voluntary imprisonment, maceration, and despair. But we have 
neither space, nor patience, nor inclination for such a task. And there is reason 
to believe, from extant and growing evidence, that of these things the orthodox, 
themselves are heartily ashamed — there being a manifest improvement in their 
imaginings since the day in which they had the whole field to themselves. 
But we will ask, in the view of such errors, and their unhappy effects, whether 
here is not another and a sufficient reason of Divine interposition for their cor- 
rection " by disclosing, through the only possible medium — the actual experience 
of a human being not yet removed into that life by death — some specific 
knowledge respecting the kind of existence there u>be experienced by all I" 

Before proceeding to another subject, we would resume a few threads of the 1 
argument as a caution to the reader. The grand object of the mission of, 
Swedenborg, as we believe, was to restore the true- Christian doctrine, and with: 
it the just method of interpreting the Sacred Word ; and, as tributary to both,, 
to throw a farther light on the realities of the eternal state. The respectability 
and attainments of the individual entitle his report to a fair consideration. It 



150 A LAYMAN'S EEPLY TO 

his pretensions are well-founded,. his works are as much addressed to you as 
to ourselves. His doctrines are, therefore, first to be examined. But it has 
heretofore been the policy of our adversaries to shun a comparison of these 
with their own in the field of fair argument, and to carp at his accounts of 
the future world, by garbled extracts, designed, when nakedly presented, to 
decoy or deter the reader from independent inquiry. If now you would 
avoid a hasty judgment, restore these passages to the places from which they were 
torn — read them in connection with the explanations which accompany — with the dis- 
cussions or arguments which precede ; or in view of the principles whose operation they 
are designed to exemplify — contemplate the whole in the light- of reason, and the 
Word — and then if you are willing to receive and to declare the truth, we 
calmly await your verdict. 

P. S. It was mentioned in the beginning that this book consisted, for the 
most part, of objections which had been urged and answered before. The 
remark is as true of this as of the preceding chapters. Mr. Noble, in his " Ap- 
peal," and Mr. Clissold, in his " Letter to Archbishop Whateley," have replied 
to them by anticipation — the former to many of the specific charges, and both, 
but particularly the latter, to the spirit of the whole. What reader would ever 
have surmised from the naked argument of the Reviewer, that the explana- 
tory statements of either of those writers had any bearing on the matters in 
consideration, or in fact had ever come under his notice ? 



We come now to a chapter, short indeed, but which maybe regarded as 
the gem of the book, seeing that, as a specimen of ignorance, impudence, and 
•coarse bravado, it excels every other part of this precious performance. 

Among other remarkable particulars incidentally mentioned in his works, 
Swedenborg has , given two intimations to the following effect. (1.) That he 
had beensupernaturally informed, that there was, at the time he wrote, a nation 
in the interior of Africa, to whom a direct Revelation was made of certain doc 
trines of the New Church, especially those which related to the sole Divinity 
of Christ, the spirituality of His Word, and the necessity of the Christian life 
to salvation. (2.) That the " ancient Word," which we have mentioned more 
than once, "was " reserved" somewhere in Grand Tartary. And these incidental 
declarations, on which not more stress was laid by him than on a hundred 
others, it is pretended by this Reviewer, were set up by him as " tests of the 
validity of his claims!" He reproaches us moreover with having made no 
efforts heretofore — (how does he know that 1) — to verify these assertions — and 
says without reserve that our neglect of this pretended duty arises from our 
disbelief of the statements. Nor is this all. The valiant Professor (and by no 
means for the first time) undertakes to prove a negative, and says that neither 
the nation nor the volume ever had a being. 

Now we think we are safe in pronouncing that none other — not even the 
most stupid of Swedenborg's readers, up to this date, has ever before sup- 
posed that he offered these things as " tests" by which the truth of his mission 
should be tried. He knew the value of such jevidence too well. If his asser- 
tions could be placed beyond a doubt to-morrow, Dr. P. and those who sym- 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 151 

pathise with him, would still find ways of eluding their force ; though they 
might help to confirm some who already believed on other and infinitely bet- 
ter grounds — viz : the intrinsic excellence and Scriptural character of his doc- 
trine. He offers no such test, he enjoins no such duty on his followers ; and 
we borrow a polite phrase of the Dr."s, and " challenge him" to prove it. If 
he does not, this shameless assertion, on which he bases his inference, may 
become a test of the credibility of another than Swedenborg. We believe the 
latter was correctly informed as to these particulars. If, however, he has 
misstated, time will shoiv. Most certainly it has not yet. But of these things in 
order. 

The Dr. has volunteered his counsel to us; we proffer him some advice in 
turn. Study a little geography, good friend ; and then, if we may judge from 
your book, you will have a smattering of everything. Any decent compilation 
on that subject will inform you, not only that Ashantee and Yarriba are on or 
near the coast of Africa, but that more than two millions of square miles of its inte- 
rior are as yet unexplored by European Christians. We open a recent and most 
entertaining " Journal of Travels in South Africa," by Moffat, an Evangelical 
missionary, and therefore good authority, and the first paragraph contains the fol- 
lowing sentences : 4i The continent of Africa, though probably the most ancient 
field of geographical enterprise, still is, and there is reason to believe will long 
continue to be, the least explored portion of the Earth. ... It presents a com- 
parative blank on the map of the World To this day, its interior 

regions continue a mystery to the white man, a land of darkness, and of terror, to 
the most fearless and enterprising traveller. Although in no country has there 
been such a sacrifice of men to the enterprise of discovery — of men the most 
intelligent and undaunted, of men impelled not by gross cupidity, but by re- 
fined philanthropy ; yet notwithstanding such suffering and waste of human 
life, we are only acquainted with the fringes of that immense continent, and a 
few lineaments at no great distance from its shores."* 

And why is this so ? We answer, deserts, mountains and morasses on the 
north ; deserts and mountains on the south ; the pestilential climate on the 
west, and the inveterate jealousy of strangers, which has ever characterized 
the inhabitants, not only on the eastern coast, but all around this region, have 
heretofore baffled every attempt to penetrate its mysteries. Monkish mission- 
aries may have succeeded in reaching it — as Swedenborg avers — but have they 
ever returned ? And if the Jesuits had learned anything of the fate of their 
emissaries, is it altogether certain that those communicative gentlemen would 
have imparted the news to Dr. Pond 1 

But although these approaches from without have been thus, providentially 
or otherwise, repelled, the natives themselves have often brought to the coast 
reports of a civilized and religious nation far in the ulterior, and from time to 
time these mtimations are being constantly renewed. For this we could bring 

* The American Quarterly Review, No. X. Art. 1, gives a brief account of the principal 
effort? to explore the interior of Africa, from antiquity to that day (1829), and says of 
that Continent: " Of a surface extending over nearly one-fourth of the terrestrial portion of 
the globe, we scarcely know more than the outlines, and yet much of what we do know is 
derived from the very traditions and records of the most remote antiquity. 



152 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

a score of authorities, some of which ought to be known to the Reviewer, for 
they are referred to in various articles of the New Jerusalem Magazine, of 
which he professes to have read nineteen volumes ?* But the existence of such 
a people is rendered possible or probable by other considerations. The an- 
cient Ethiopians were noted for their piety and innocence of manners, so early 
as the time of Homer. Traditions of their prowess, and other virtues reached 
Herodotus through the Egyptian priests. The Christian religion was sent to 
them in the time of the Apostles. At a later day, the neighboring kingdom of 
Abyssinia received Christianity and with it the Sacred Word, which she has 
preserved for more than a thousand years, and may have imparted to others 
beyond her borders. The connection of these Christians through Egypt with 
Europe has never been wholly lost, though intercourse was suspended for 
centuries. It was renewed by the Portuguese, which led to the visits of the 
Jesuits. At times during the two following centuries, the rumor of a remark- 
able people at a greater distance would reach the European shores,f and 
doubtless served to stimulate the zeal and curiosity of more than one of the 
numbers who have undertaken the fatal task of finding them out. Major 
Harris, in his account of his late embassy to Shoa, a part of ancient Ethiopia, 
gives intimation of having heard of a mysterious nation, or nations still far- 
ther in the interior. Until, then, free access can be had to this immense, 
though spell-bound territory, and it shall have been fully explored, how is Prof. 
Pond to know — unless he has turned clairvoyant himself — that " there are no 
such people in Africa as Swedenborg describes V 1 

The other statement is to the following purport. The ancient Word, which 
was suited to the genius of the early ages, was no longer adapted to the gen- 
erality of mankind, when so great and radical changes had come over their 
spirit, and was therefore substituted by that which we now have. It was 
consequently ordered by the Divine Providence that the former should gradu- 
ally " disappear," and finally be " lost" in the other kingdoms of Asia, but it 
was " reserved" somewhere in Tartary. This he learnt " from certain spirits 
and angels," who also informed him that " it had been preserved from ancient 
times," and that " they (his informers) performed their worship according to" — ■ 
its principles, of course. Does it follow from this or anything else here writ- 
ten that he wished to induce the belief that it was the established religion of the 
empire ? Does this Lecturer need to be informed that in every country there 
were formerly literary treasures kept secret from strangers ? That in oriental 
countries this policy has been long observed % That there was throughout 
all the east an exoteric and esoteric worship as well as doctrine ? How long 
was the Sanscrit language and literature kept from the profane ? Are there 
not at this day numerous Parsees in Persia, who are ostensibly Mahometans, 
and yet preserve their sacred books from their oppressors, and conduct 
their secret devotions according to the old forms of the Fire-worshipers ?$ 

* N. J. Mag. IV. 37, 317 ; VI. 120; IX. 85 ; XV. 307, 337 ; XVIII. 168, 207, 499. 

f These rumors, together with the ancient historical traditions probably furnished Bishop 
Berkeley with the materials for his accredited Romance, " The Memoirs of Gaudeutio Di 
Lucca" (See Mackintosh's Hist. Eth. Phil. p. 133). 

% This fact is stated on the authority of an American, late a missionary to Persia ; by 
whom it was received from a leading man among the Yezidees, who confessed himself an 
adherent of the ancient faith, and said all his people secretly practised the same rites. 



DR. POxNDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 153 

The Tartars, in the palmy days of their history, were proverbially jealous of 
their state secrets ; and their leaders had comprehensive ideas on the subject of 
religion which led them seemingly to adopt and conform to that of the several 
countries they conquered, while in fact they had a contempt for their super- 
stitions. And when came the Professor of Theology at Bangor, into the coun- 
sels of the Chinese Emperors, or Prester John's successors, or Jesuits or Nes- 
torian missionaries, that he should have been able to ferret out all their secrets, 
and learn the extent of their knowledge on this subject ! "It was provided 
that this Word should ; disappear' everywhere, be ' losV in the other countries 
of Asia, and only 'reserved' in Tartary," says Swedenborg. "Then it must be 
the established religion of Tartary,*' says Dr. P. " I learned from certain spirits 
. . . that it had been preserved there from ancient times," said Swedenborg. 
" Then those ' certain spirits' must certainly have spoken in the name of their 
whole nation, and the existence of such a book, if there at all, must have been 
known to all Tartary, and to every man or missionary who ever visited the 
country,'' says Dr. P. "They declared moreover that they performed their 
worship according to the book," said Swedenborg. "Exactly," says Dr. P. — 
"and all the rest of the nation must have worshiped after the same model." — 
" ' Seek for it China,' you that have the curiosity, ' peradventure you may find it 
there among the Tartars,' " says Swedenborg. " Hear you that, his followers ? 
He commands you to go in search of it. He has put the truth of his mission on this 
very test, 1 ' says Dr. P. A rather singular " command" this ! To seek in one 
country, among a part of the population, for a book on which the national 
religion of another is founded — and that other as much or more accessible than 
the first ! " Seek for it," says he, it may not be found on the surface. " Seek for it 
in China." It may be too rigidly guarded in Tartary. " Seek for it among the 
Tartars there" — the upper orders of society — who are more apt to preserve 
curious literary relics than the mass of the people, and who might impart to 
a distant stranger, who came with the proper motive, what they would with- 
hold from the unworthy nearer home. But really it is a pity to deprive the 
Lecturer of the sad satisfaction he seems to derive from his posing question. 
As he is apparently unable to distinguish between a suggestion that if one 
were to look for a thing in a particular region, peradventure he might find it, 
and a positive command to go on an exploring expedition — we would advise 
him, if he wish to prove Swedenborg false, to undertake the enterprise him- 
self. Let him certainly go to China or to Interior Africa (taking Egypt in the 
way, for if he failed to find the book of Jasher in the former country, he may 
discover it on the monuments you know), and when he has proved to a de- 
monstration that such a book is not in the former, or such a nation in the latter, 
the modest tone hi which he writes may be somewhat elevated. 



154 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

CHAPTER X. 

swedenborgs doctrine of marriage, polygamy, concubinage, and scortation set 
in its true light. 

For several reasons we have postponed until now, the consideration of the 
sole remaining class of objections brought by this Reviewer against the works 
of our author. We wished first to bring before the reader those which ques- 
tioned the soundness of his intellect, and the accuracy and extent of his at- 
tainments, the evidences of his mission, the justice with which he had treated 
the character and opinions of other individuals and sects, the accordance and 
consistency of his own doctrines with Reason, with Scripture, and with them- 
selves ; in short, those which related to the several topics that have succes- 
sively been brought up, and to furnish such counter-statements as would ena- 
ble an impartial mind to judge between him and his accuser. These being dis- 
posed of, such an one is better prepared to accompany us to the end, if but 
partially disencumbered of his load of prejudice. Those which we now pro- 
pose to notice, are dispersed through several chapters, and when collected, a 
general answer may apply to all. And, finally, they are of a character which 
renders it proper that they be separately treated, inasmuch as to some readers 
it may be more agreeable to have the opportunity of reading or passing them 
over at their discretion. 

It will be remembered that one of Dr. Pond's objections to the system of 
Swedenborg was, that in his view it tended to depress, if not to subvert the 
proper standard of Christian piety. How utterly baseless the charge is, we hope 
has been fully shown. . . But a still more serious imputation was in reserve. 
" He is sorry to be obliged to say that some of them are, not simply indelicate 
in the subjects and mode of treatment, but of immoral tendency, those particu- 
larly which relate to Polygamy, Concubinage, and Scortation." And we meet 
the charge with a prompt, unequivocal, and flat denial. We pronounce it 
moreover a calumny, and though often repeated and industriously circulated 
for more than twenty years, by men who profess to be guided by the highest 
principle, it is false nevertheless, as we shall proceed to show, and has no 
foundation except in the wilful misinterpretation of determined fault-finders, 
or the consequent misapprehension of others who have rashly confided in their 
statements. 

If this question could be freely canvassed before and submitted to the judg- 
ment of intelligent individuals of the sterner sex — before men alone — men who 
fear God and love justice — men who are fully apprised of the letter and spirit 
of the Divine Law, and of the high standard of obedience and character which 
is placed before the Christian, and yet who know the world as it is, and the 
present frail and degraded state of human nature — men who would not be pre- 
vented by a false delicacy or childish timidity from grappling with the diffi- 
culties of the subject — men who understood both the rules of writing and in- 
terpretation, and thence the proper method of collecting an author's real sen- 
timents, we should have no fear as to their decision. We should rejoice rather 
at an opportunity of repelling a slander which after being secretly whispered 
from hence to Russia, and openly propagated by a few reckless defamers 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 155 

whose fabrications have been dissected and exposed, is now again re-prodnced 
by Dr. Pond. But the public mind has been so long and so widely forestalled 
by those who before had the public ear, and who therefore may have calcu- 
lated on repeating the charges with impunity, that we have reason to fear that 
die prejudice may have become too inveterate to be easily shaken. This, how- 
ever, but renders it the more necessary to embrace every occasion to enter our 
protest against such crying injustice. This subject, moreover, is one not easily 
to be treated in a work addressed to a miscellaneous class of readers of either 
sex, for Ave cannot effectively vindicate ourselves from the most injurious as- 
persions, without seeming to trench on delicacy, or to violate some of the con- 
ventional rules which restrict the writer of such a work within certain limits 
both of thought and expression. Yet we may not decline to intimate wherein 
our author has been misrepresented, and if anything should escape us which 
is thought to be marked by too great plainness of speech, the subject itself and 
the nature of the duty must plead our apology. 

After all, we shall say but little, and the most of that little has been far better 
said before. But what we do say shall be the truth, and easily verified as such. 
There is the less necessity for expatiating at length, as every point has been 
recently and fully examined by Prof. Bush, hi his "Reply to Dr. Woods," who 
urged the same objections, though in a somewhat modified form, and in a far 
more courteous and Christian spirit. Nearly every consideration which we de- 
signed to adduce having been anticipated by that defender of our faith, who 
has embodied in his Reply all the passages from Swedenborg on which the 
charge is usually founded, together with those by which their sense was in- 
tended to be limited, he has thus furnished the means of -coming to a just con- 
clusion, without resort to a purely partisan statement. To his book, therefore 
do we confidently refer such as may desire to make a full examination, but 
nothing forbids their also resorting to the best possible source of information, 
to that work of our author which has been made the occasion of so much un- 
merited reproach. 

The question may be asked then, " why does Swedenborg treat so minutely 
and particularly of the subject of ' Conjugal Love, and its various violations,' 
when modern maimers had proscribed everything except mere allusions to 
such topics, in books designed for general perusal % n To which we answer, 
that He who made the human race made them of different sexes, established 
certain relations between them, and prescribed certain laws for their inter- 
course, the orderly observance of which contributes to the happiness of each, 
and the violation of which is attended with injury to both. Though these 
laws of order are laid down in His Word, their exact purport has been misun- 
derstood by both Catholic and Protestant. The former has taught that mar- 
riage is not " honorable in all," nor pure in itself, and that certain other devia- 
tions from chastity were more venial in " a priest" than such a permanent re- 
lation. The latter, though professedly rejecting both errors, has not fully un- 
derstood the true nature of marriage, or the injurious effects of the opposite 
vices, and has either known no better mode of opposition, or contented himself 
with vague and fierce denunciations of such wanderings, without offering surTi- 



156 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

cient reasons for his condemnation, or exhibiting the consequences to the 
spiritual interests of man in such a light as will deter from their commission. 

If such were the true policy, one might suppose that if there be a corner of 
the world where such emphatic denouncings are proclaimed against offenders) 
such vices would there be expelled from society. Why then do we see no 
such result 1 Vague abuse, menace, ex cathedra condemnation, will not suffice 
in this age. Unless the true nature of this relation is set forth, and the real 
danger and effects of its violation, the " incredulus odi" will certainly arise 
and men will assert the freedom of their intellect, though it may be to their own 
injury. For the seventh command does not appear to them more sacred than any 
other part of the decalogue, and since the temptations to its breach are gen- 
erally stronger than of others, they cannot tell why such offenders should be 
doomed to peculiar execration, while they daily witness transgressions of the 
other laws which call down on the heads of the perpetrators no such curses, 
and which in fact are lightly regarded. 

It can hardly be necessary to remind the reader of the wide-spread, long- 
continued, and fatal effects on the morals of the Church and the world of the 
Romish error on this subject. They are apparent to every one who visits a 
Catholic country. They have not escaped animadversion in the numerous 
controversies between them and the other grand division of Christians. But 
no where, as we now remember, are these corruptions more truly and forcibly 
depicted than in the works of a distinguished writer now living* But to any 
man who knows the world, his daily observation must show that even in Pro- 
testant countries much, very much, is wanting duly to enforce the Divine coun- 
sels on this head. The policy of silence then, of affected horror, of conven- 
tional suppression of all open reference, either spoken or written, to such mat- 
ters, is either cowardly, or cruel, or both, while the evils themselves are spread- 
ing their ravages and doing their work of death in secret. Somebody must 
break through the trammels of false delicacy, and impart instruction on such 
subjects. And who so fit as he who was called to expound the meaning of 
the entire Scriptures ? Is not this a necessary part of his task, and could he 
have avoided it without shunning a duty % 

In the division of labor which has been instituted for the benefit of society 
in general, the culture of different parts of the field of knowledge, has been 
assigned to different individuals, whose duty it hence becomes to collect, ex- 
tend, and preserve the information which, without such professional function, 
could neither be obtained nor made so available to others. In this way also are 
most persons relieved from the necessity of studying certain subjects which are 
distasteful, so long as they are not personally concerned in the possession of 
such knowledge. 

Far be it from us to object to that characteristic of our modern manners 
which banishes certain topics from general conversation or current literature, 
and whose stern requisitions have expurgated the classics, provided us with 
a Family Shakspeare, and secluded many a work of Dryden, and Swift, and 
their compeers, as among the things forbidden to youth. Yet this is not of 

* See Mr. Isaac Taylor's " Nat. Hist, of Enthusiasm," Sec. 8 and 9. " Fanaticism ** 
Sec. 5, and " Ancient Christianity," passim. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 157 

itself an argument of the superior purity of our age. For this tendency with 
some has been urged so far as to have generated the maxim, that " vice itself 
loses half its evil by losing all its grossness !" And popular writers have ac- 
cordingly, under cover of choice epithet and guarded phrase, given utterance 
to the most corrupting ideas and seducing pictures. Notwithstanding these 
abuses, such matters must be treated of both in speech and writing, on proper 
occasions, by proper persons, and with a proper design. And this is so obvi- 
ous to common sense, that when treated thus professionally or scientifically, 
they occasion neither surprise nor offence to any well-regulated mind. 

Again : libraries somewhat extensive and miscellaneous are now much 
more common than formerly. In those of how many gentlemen may we find 
not only Encyclopaedias, which of course embrace the whole circle of sci- 
ence, but treatises on Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Natural History, rear- 
ing domestic animals, Morals, Casuistry, Criminal Law? Does any physician 
dream that he is touching on forbidden themes, or ministering to a prurient 
curiosity, by owning most of the works which make up his collection, or by 
recommending to heads of families certain compilations which contain infor- 
mation indispensable to them, though it may be neither necessary nor proper 
for others ? " The various ills that flesh is heir to," in the present degenerate 
state of Human Nature, must be made known to their profession, and remedies 
sought for them. To conceal them is self-murder. And this knowledge must 
be sought by fathers of families, that they may counsel their children or de- 
pendents, and by others that they may know what to shun. There are other 
branches of science in a similar relation. The Farmer, the Criminal Lawyer, 
the Moralist, the Casuist, the Divine, must often be conversant with matters 
which are not agreeable to others. Few works are more frequently to be met 
with in the houses of pious Protestants than " Paley's Moral Philosophy, 1 ' and 
Taylor's " Holy Living," and nothing we suppose, but their enormous bulk has 
prevented such books of Casuistry as Taylor's "Ductor Dubitantium," and 
Baxter's ' ; Christian Directory," from being as common now as formerly. Yet 
they all contain chapters which are unfit and not intended for indiscriminate 
perusal, but still useful and necessary. These books and others belonging to 
the classes above enumerated, are not furtively concealed, but are accessible 
;: to all whom they may concern ;" and, if perchance, in glancing over their 
contents, well-bred females should light on such parts, with the instinctive pu- 
rity, tact, and delicacy of the sex, they pass over what was not intended for 
their eyes, to other portions which may be safely read by all. To diminish the 
chances of such offence, the necessary instruction on such subjects is collected 
in books which may be regarded as rather professional than popular in their 
character, so that the unwary reader at this day is not likely to stumble on such 
passages while perusing more agreeable matter. 

It were needless to recall these well-known facts and truths, but that they 
seem to be lost sight of by his opponents, whenever the declarations of Swe- 
denborg are to be adjudged. For it is after this plan that he has written relatively 
to this whole class of subjects. He has collected in a separate volume all that he had to 
say thereon which could be unpleasing to the general reader ; there being but little ir 



158 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

his other works which could properly be brought under this head, and this 
treatise, he himself characterised as " not theological but chiefly moral."* 

The impression sought to be made by this Reviewer is, that the book is 
written in a strain of rhapsodical passion which would be more becoming in 
an ardent youth under a tropic sun than in a grave theologian, whose tem- 
perament was formed under a northern sky, and had beens till further subdued 
by the frosts of seventy winters. This is the reverse of the truth. The spirit 
which pervades it throughout is that of the calm, self-poised Christian Philos- 
opher, who contemplates this, as he would any other subject, from a lofty intel- 
lectual sphere. Nor is there the slightest trace of personal feeling or interest, 
farther than an evident desire in this, as in all his writings, to place correct 
principles in a clear light, and to contrast them with the opposite and most 
prevalent errors. This is manifestly true of the entire thread of his own argu- 
ment, which is drawn out with logical precision, and disposed in his usual 
orderly method. This book, however, like some of the others, contains cer- 
tain " memorable relations," in which, as we suppose, he has given a faithful 
account of " things seen and heard." In reporting the acts and opinions of 
others, he has attributed to some of the interlocutors sentiments and declara- 
tions marked by more of that warmth and directness of allusion which are 
thought by some to be inseparable from such themes, but of which we find 
nothing in his own lucubrations, unless the simple statement of a fact, or an- 
nunciation of a principle, shall be taken as sufficient ground for the charge, 
and it is from these that Dr. P.'s quotations have been chiefly taken. The 
style of the treatise is chaste throughout, the phraseology being generally 
selected with a happy tact for insinuating rather than broadly expressing the 
ideas which he wishes to convey ; though this purpose has been sometimes 
defeated by his translators, who, from an honest though excessive desire to 
be literal, have spoken more plainly than the original. After all, of the whole 
twenty thousand pages written by Sivedenborg on theological subjects, there are not 
twenty which any one need fear to read, and these are in a work written for the 
use of man. Of these, also, we say " evil to him who evil thinks ;" for if herein 
the author has written naturally, or " scientifically," or like " a physiologist," 
it is because morals are not something etherial or Utopian, but practical. If 
we wish to reform the vicious, we must " take them as they are," and not 
forget that, as the spirit is connected with the body, so the science of morals 
is based on physiology, and in practise cannot be separated from it. 

And this reminds us that Evangelical ministers have not always cherished 
such an affectation of decorum as at present. There is a ceremony exacted 
of virtuous matrons in the established Church of England ; the form of which 
is laid down in her prayer book and has not been expunged by the Episcopal 
Church of America — of which Ave say nothing, except that a needless publicity 
is given to grateful feelings which were better confined to a circle of relatives 
or friends at home. But who has not heard of the "Cutty Stool" which has 
figured so largely in the history of the Church of Scotland ? And who was it 
but members of the Evangelical party that some years ago got up in the city 

* See his sixth Letter to Dr. Beyer. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 159 

of New York, the world-renowned Magdalen Report! and afterwards, as we learn, 
under the management of a consistory of matrons, headed by some of their 
clergy, published a periodical on the subject of " Moral Reform,' 1 whereby per- 
sons, previously innocent and ignorant, were more familiarized with scenes 
of vice, than by all the French novels of the day? And yet, prudish, imma- 
culate, fastidious Dr. Pond is now scandalised at a few pages written by a 
sage-moralist, from a religious motive, in a treatise directed to men ! 

Nor is this all. In his zeal for condemning us, he has also (unwittingly we 
hope) cast a reproach upon the Word of God .' It is generally known, that the Bible 
itself contains whole chapters and parts of many others which should not be 
publicly read — some of them, perhaps, not at all by young persons — and that 
these are so numerous that Infidels have not scrupled to declare that " the 
Bible is the most immoral book in the world." To be consistent, Dr. P. should 
expunge these from his copy of the Word, or else succumb to this, which is 
one of the principal arguments of the Romanists for withholding the Scriptures 
from the laity. The whole Bible Society; nay, all Protestant Christendom 
must have committed a grievous sin in putting them into the hands of chil- 
dren — if he be right. We might subjoin a copious list of passages which 
contain narratives, or illustrations, or references, or allusions, or precepts, or 
warnings — many of which would fare badly with the scrupulous Puritans, if 
they appeared in any other work, however pure and benevolent, or austere 
the motive with which they were written. But vje will not do it. We will not 
imitate the example of Dr. Pond, who has not only drawn such things from 
their professional depositories (so to speak), and needlessly intruded them before 
the public : but has picked, and culled, and torn passages from their context, 
and brought things together which were originally separate, in order to make 
the total impression as false and as unfavorable as possible. Vindications of 
the Scripture for appearing in such a style, elaborate and able, we know have 
long since been made. But the principle of the defence, if sufficient there, is 
equally applicable to the works of our author, who has done but little more 
than collect and expand the principles which were dispersed through the 
Scriptures, or embody ideas which may now be found floating through many 
minds ; and which, when occasion requires, are freely and properly discussed 
in the sanctuary of the domicil, or the confidence of private friendship. 

Thus much as to the question of delicacy ; and now it may be asked, what is 
the particular character of the treatise, which has been the object of such re- 
peated and ferocious attacks ? Swedenborg having set aside the vulgar error 
which asserts the existence of angels, created such, taught that the final cause 
of the creation of the earth, was, that it might become " the perpetual seminary of 
heaven r and marriage or the union of one man with one woman — which 
should also be an union of minds as well as bodies — is the only legitimate 
source of offspring to be trained up for the enjoyments of the spirit- world . 
Such was the original institution ordained and blessed by God : and such an 
union, if between congenial minds — the distinction of sex being rooted in the 
spirit itself — he declares, is continued in the other life, in accordance with the 
annunciation of our Lord that " they twain shall be one flesh," and that what 



160 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

" God hath joined together man shall not put asunder."* Such a marriage, he 
says, is illustrated by a thousand external phenomena, as well as by the 
union of the will and understanding, and thence of goodness and truth, in the 
regenerate man. And this but a derivation from a similar union of love and 
wisdom in the Lord himself, who, in his holy Word has selected this relation, 
as the especial symbol of that which exists between himself and his church. f From 
these and other considerations, such as that marriage is the only proper origin 
of families, and of the resulting domestic and social relations, and remotely of 
government itself, which was originally paternal in its character ; and that, 
when viewed in this exalted sense, it can only exist with those who either are 
Christians, or are in a capacity to become such; he has deduced the farther 
inference that it is spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, and the very depository of 
the Christian Religion — which last pretension seems extravagant, if not shock- 
ing, to Dr. Pond. 

Now the Dr. cannot but know, that there are thousands, and in Christian 
countries, too, who, far from cherishing this just and refined idea of such a con- 
nexion, even include in their conception of its character, something gross 
and impure and external, and who look upon woman not as the equal and 
companion of man, but rather as the manager of his household, and the min- 
ister of his appetites, though they may thereby involve in the degradation the 
virtuous mothers who bore them or their own affectionate and constant con- 
sorts. It was to correct these and the like pernicious errors, to bannish for 
ever from Christian minds such unworthy sentiments, to restore forgotten 
truths by separating them from the counterfeits with which they had been 
mingled, that this volume was written. And if it be a crime to seek to ele- 
vate and dignify the general estimate of a virtuous love of the sex, and of the 
marriage union as its result, what a wickedness as well as folly was chiv- 
alry — what worse than nonsense the entire series of the Drama and Moral 
fiction, and much of the Poetry of modern times — and how naughty it was in 
old Bishop Taylor, to preach such a sermon as that on "The Marriage Ring." 
It was not however by labored efforts of imagination that Swedenborg sought 
to adorn his theme, nor yet by eloquence to win the feelings while the judg- 
ment was unconvinced ; but by the presentation of plain truth, or by forcible 
reasoning clothed in his usual didactic and simple style, to show that this sub- 
ject was one which " came home to the business and bosoms of men." 

To deepen the impression, and if possible to confirm his instructions, it was 
also necessary to present the reverse of the picture. The temporary or irregu- 
lar connexions which are the very opposite of that instituted by God, must pass 
in review. Nor like so many other moralists has he shunned this duty, how- 
ever unpleasant, but having brought to the divine standard, and discriminated 
the relative degrees of enormity which mark, their several offences, he has de- 



* Matt. xix. 4, 5, 6. Our space will not permit us to show how the ambiguous language 
of our Lord, in Matt. xxii. 29, 30, came to be so generally misinterpreted until the time of 
Swedenborg. This subject is explained by our author in C. L. 41, and in Noble's Appeal, 
Sec. VI. Part 4th: both of which expositions Dr. P., of course, fails to notice. 

f Isa. liv. 4, 5 ; Hos. ii. 7, 16 ; Jer. xxxi. 32 ; Mark ii. 19; Matt. xxv. 5, 6 ; Rev. xxi. 
1, 9; xix. 5, 6, 7,9. 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 161 

nounccd them a//, and has declared from actual observation the terrible retribu- 
tions which await the robber of virgin purity, the roaming libertine, the viola- 
tor of chastity, the seducer of innocence, and above all the fiend-like adulterer, 
who, if a deliberate offender, not only destroys the peace of families, but the 
possibility of his own salvation. And we hesitate not to say that, if anything 
could avail to confirm the virtuous in their purity — if anything could lure the 
dog from his vomit, or deter from such perilous courses, it must be the present- 
ation of motives drawn from heaven, and earth, and hell, in these contrasted 
pictures of the happiness that attends the former, and the inevitable horrors 
which overtake the latter. 

Thus far, we suppose it would be difficult for the most scrupulous to find 
anything defective here on the score of morality. What then are the dogmas 
that have given occasion to a charge so serious 1 Those to which this Re- 
viewer has taken special exception, may be reduced to three : And first, 
Swedenborg has said that " polygamy is not sin with those whose religion 
sanctions ir, or with those who are in ignorance concerning the Lord. Conse- 
quently, it was no sin among the Israelites of old ; nor with the Mahometans 
and heathens of the present day." Now we should really suppose that this is 
but little more than the utterance of a truism, or so direct an inference from 
Scripture as at once to meet the approbation of every just and well-informed 
mind. What is sin but the neglect of human duty, or the violation of known 
laws ? " This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world/' &c. ' ; If 
ye were blind ye should have no sin.'* " If I had not come and spoken unto them, 
they had not had sin.'"* Now Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon indulged 
in this liberty, nor was it forbidden to the nation by Moses. Mahomet prac- 
tised the same license himself, and authorized it in his followers. So that it 
was permitted by the religion and civil laws of either nation, and we do not 
learn that they received farther light from any other source. How then were 
either Jews or Mahometans to know that it was a sin ? 

An evil it undoubtedly was, permitted by Divine Providence to prevent 
greater. It forbade their rising higher in the scale of regeneration. It found 
them merely natural men and kept them so — but it also prevented their sink- 
ing lower ; and this being conceded to them on account of the hardness of 
their hearts, they could be instrumental in effecting other purposes of the Deity, 
particularly that of extirpating idolatry among the Oriental nations. 

No ! Swedenborg does not — like the Westminster Confession of Faith — send 
all Mahometans and Pagans to hell merely for doing what their religion per- 
mits. And we must own that we do not see how this conclusion, as just as 
humane, tends to immorality. If they live up to the light they have, why 
should they not be admitted to a sort of happiness hereafter ? Accordingly 
we learn that Mahometans have a heaven, divided into two regions. Into then- 
higher heaven, none are admitted but those who renounce polygamy — whereas 
in the lower are found others who still live as they were taught was allowa- 
ble in the natural world. In a memorable relation Swedenborg has reported 

* John iii. 19; ix. 41 ; xv. 22, 24; see also, Acts xvii. 30; Matt. xix. 8 ; Rom. v. 13; 
Jas. iv. 17. 

12 



162 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

. an interview with an inhabitant of this region, who, as he had carried thither 
the disposition and sentiments formed on earth, gave vent to and defended 
certain Turkish ideas as to the worth and duty of woman. Swedenborg re- 
presents himself as expostulating with the polygamist, and severely rebuking 
him for his grossness. And these opinions, which are recorded for our reproba- 
tion, are quoted by just Dr. P. as if they were Swedenborg 's own ! He is moreover 
offended that such a spirit should be assigned to heaven. But heaven is not 
a place, simple admission into which is also a passport to happiness ; and 
there are more heavens than one. Their lower heaven, though dignified 
with that generic name, from the account given of it, would probably be a 
hell to a Christian. And yet the mercy of the Lord permits even such un- 
clean wretches to enjoy the happiness of which they are capable ; but it is 
such as renders it necessary for them to be totally separated from Christians in 
the other life. 

But again we ask : Has not Dr. P. in his haste to condemn Swedenborg, 
involved other persons whose faith accords more nearly with his own ? Has he 
forgotten that Luther, Melancthon, Bucer, and others of the only reformers, heark- 
ened to the urgent representations of Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, whom they 
feared to alienate from the^ cause of Reformation, and permitted him to take a 
second wife while his first was still living ? and lias not the pernicious precedent 
then set, though an abomination to be detested by all Christians, been followed by 
German Protestant Princes ever since in what they profanely call " marriages 
with the left hand V , Nay, more, is it not true that American Evangelical 
missionaries in the East, recently admitted a Mahometan convert to Christian 
communion without requiring him to dismiss one of two wives which he had 
before ?• Such an outrage on all proper Christian feeling could not be perpe- 
trated without both question and remonstrance. The propriety of the step 
was accordingly discussed in a Missionary Convention held, as it happened, 
at Bangor.' under Dr. P.'s own nose. And what was the result % A high offi- 
cer of the Board of Missions reports it as follows : — After a full consideration of 
the subject the Missionaries came to the conclusion "that the sinfulness of poly- 
gamy was not so clearly taught in the New Testament as to make it a test of exclusion ?" 
When this licentious judgment was delivered, where then were the small 
thunders of the minor Vatican of the Theological Seminary at Bangor % Not 
so much as a word of dissent or reclamation have we heard from that quarter % 
But widely as it has diverged from correct principle on this subject and de- 
grading as has been its practice is there nothing redeeming in Mahometanism ? 
For otherwise, the philosophical student of History may find much to com- 
mend in its character and effects on the nations subjected to its sway. And 
the superiority of Christianity may be safely maintained without consigning 
all the professors of the former to inevitable damnation. While the contest 
between the Crescent and the Cross was at its height, and the result seemed 
doubtful to human ken, it was scarcely to be expected that the Christian 
would accord any merit to the rival faith. But the ultimate issue may now be 
safely predicted, and the Christian can afford to be just. Swedenborg, so far 
as we know, was the first among recent writers to set this subject in a proper 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 163 

point of view* Since his day there have not been wanting others sufficient- 
ly learned and liberal to follow his example, — and his judgment bids fair at no 
distant day, to become the settled opinion of the public. 

Take as a specimen the following from Mr. Sharon Turner. u No one who 
thinks calmly and intelligently on the subject, can imagine that such a mighty 
event as the establishment, and diffusion, and continuance of the Islam faith, 
can have occurred without the knowledge and permission of the divine Ruler 
of ns all. . . . Wherever Mohammedanism has spread, it has always 
acted to the same end. It has always been the uncompromising antagonist of 
polytheism and idolatry, and has invariably driven these out of the world 
wherever it has predominated."' — (Sacred History of the World, vol. 2, p. 405.) 

To the same effect speaks the late Dr. Arnold. "Greek cultivation and Ro- 
Roman polity prepared men for Christianity, as Mahometanism can bear wit- 
ness, for the East when it abandoned Greece and Rome could only re-produce 
Judaism. Mahometanism. six hundred years after Christ, justifies the wisdom 
of God in Judaism : proving that the eastern man could bear nothing more 
perfect." — {Life 496 — see also App. F.) 

(2.) We come now to the second and third charges ; but that our defence 
may be more brief and intelligible, we will invert the order of their considera- 
tion. 

The treatise of Swedenborg to which we have so frequently referred, is enti- - 
tied 4i The Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugialf Love, after which follow 
the pleasures of Insanity concerning Scortary Love."' In the first and much the 
larger part are laid down the laws of marriage, and the duties which grow out 
of that relation. Among many other propositions, all of the same tendency, .. 
are the following. '• The mere love of the sex is of the natural or external 
man, and is common to all animals, but the conjugial principle is of the 
internal or spiritual man, and at that day it was so rare, it was scarcely 
known that it was, far less what it was. Nevertheless, viewed from its origin 
and correspondence, it is spiritual, holy, pure and clean, and none can ever 
come into it but those who either are Christians, or in a capacity to become 
such." Chastity is not mere abstinence, from whatever cause arising, whether 
youth, or inability, or selfish prudence, or a fanatical vow of celibacy — but is pre- 
dicated solely of marriage, and of the marriage of one husband with one wife. Chris- 
tian marriage then alone is chaste, and its chastity consists in "a total renuncia- 
tion of wh.ored.oms from principle of religion." 1 For such " do shun all extra-conju- 
gial loves as they would the loss of the soul and the lakes of hell"% There can then 
be no doubt as to the duty of a Christian in his relations to the other sex, as 
expounded by Swedenborg. 

But unhappily all are not Christians even in Christian countries. The 
divine counsels are explicit : their purport and tendeucy not to be mistaken. 
That which enjoins chastity is as clear as the rest, and yet it is violated in 
various modes. Most true, they are all denounced by the moralist and the 

* C. L. 34-2 ; D. P. 255 • T. C. R. 833. 

f This term is used by Swedenborg to denote a conjunction of minds — a union more inti- 
mate than that produced by the word conjugal yoke. Etymology explains the difference. 
%C. L. 91, 95, 58,64, 70, 130, 150, 151, 153, 155, 140, 141/142, U7..71. 



164 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

divine, and by none more emphatically than by Swedenborg himself. " Scor- 
tatory love " — a general term for all such irregularities — " is opposite to conjugial 
love,"* — as opposite as the natural man is to the spiritual,! or as the connex- 
ion of the evil and the false is to the marriage of goodness and truth, % — nay, as 
opposite as Hell is to Heaven.\\ The uncleanness of hell arises herefrom \\ its 
sphere ascends from hell \\ its' pleasures are those of insanity :** it tends to 
bestialise the man more and more in proportion to its indulgence ; 1, ff what 
more could he have said % 

With all this he could not be blind to the fact that the sacred precepts were 
constantly transgressed in various forms, and that much of the misery of 
society arose from such disorders. In searching however for the causes of 
this prevailing delinquency, it could not escape his observation that the fre- 
quency of its occurrence did not always arise (as in some other species of 
vice) from a disposition to contemn the divine authority or wantonly to brave 
the vengeance of heaven ; but that it was often the result of an unfavorable 
organization inherited from a long line of perverted ancestry, and such pre- 
disposition aggravated by untoward circumstances arising from a vicious 
constitution of society. The temptations of some to err in this respect, are 
stronger than of others; as sinful passions are indulged, they grow in strength. 
Similar propensities are transmitted to offspring ■ and if these are unrestrained, 
with each succeeding generation the task ot self-government becomes more 
and more difficult. Without doubt it is true that no sane man ever inherits a 
temperament which compels him to sin ; and some are so happily born or 
wisely nurtured that their duty in this respect is performed with comparative 
ease. There are again men of iron will who can overcome by flight or resist- 
ance the severest trials. But when all is said and the most favorable view 
taken, there still remains a large class of men who do not exercise the proper 
self-control. 

A feeling implanted by Deity for wise purposes is not sinful in itself, nor is 
its indulgence forbidden within the limits and upon the condition prescribed by 
Him. That one condition is marriage . But marriage, though it may be an object 
within the wish and intention, cannot be compassed at will by every individual. 
It is the result of an engagement between two, and consent may be wanting. If 
this be obtained, other obstacles may prevent. It should not be entered on 
without the means or prospect of maintaining a family. In countries already 
fully peopled, with settled governments, this, with the majority, is a work of 
time. Even under these trying circumstances the Christian will learn to pos- 
sess his soul in patience: rely on the promise that he shall not be tempted 
beyond his ability to endure, and await his reward in another life. But again 
we say, all are not Christians, and will not control themselves. Many are not 
restrained by religious principle. The current of thought with them has run 
parallel with that of feeling, until they have brought themselves into a condi- 
tion in which the demands of appetite are importunate and incessant. It is 
of such, particularly the young, who are not in a condition to marry, that 



M25. f426. J 427. ||429. §430. IF 435. **442. ff 230, 432. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 165 

Swedenborg has said, " That icith some the love of the sex cannot without dam- 
age be totally restrained from going forth into indulgence." And what is this 
but the repetition of a fact which is known to every experienced physician, to 
clergymen, to magistrates, to statesmen, to men of the world, throughout 
Christendom, — or, in the words of Swedenborg, a fact which "reason sees and 
experience teaches 1" And is he to be blamed for the simple recognition of a 
truth notorious as it is humiliating? Dr. Pond ma}' wink hard, or, like the 
wise bird, bury his head in the sand, but is it not so ? As an evidence that it 
is not only recognised, but acted on by others, Swedenborg states the farther 
fact, " that tnerefore in populous cities bagnios are tolerated, . . . tolerated by 
kings, magistrates, and thence by judges, inquisitors, and by the people, at Lon- 
don, Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Venice, Naples, and also at Rome, besides in 
many other places,"* — and for the reason among others that the virtuous portion 
of female society would not be safe from snares or violence without some 
such safety-valve for the escape of the menacing principle. 

Such then is the present frail and imperfect state of human nature. Society 
is invaded by wild beasts which cannot be tamed immediately. Insanity is a 
thing of degrees and may be periodical in its attacks. We do not say that it is 
physically impossible for such men to be virtuous, but we presume Dr. P. has 
heard of the famous distinction between "natural and moral inability," which 
to a certain extent is true. Such men then are morally unable to resist tempta- 
tion of this sort. They cannot because they will not.f 

What now is to be done ? The question is one which cannot be evaded ; 
and is worthy of being brought before a tribunal in which the strictest justice 
is tempered by the highest wisdom and moderation. The maxim "summum 
jus, summa injuria," if ever applicable in cases of practical morals, would 
seem to obtain here. Indiscriminately to despatch all such offenders to perdi- 
tion, in the summary style of some theologians, while of the former it might 
make reckless rebels, driving them to all manner of excess, might relieve 
the casuists of one difficulty by appearing to maintain the honor of the divine 
law ; but, on the other hand, it would go far to prove that the benevolent pur- 
pose of the Deity in the creation of man had been thus far defeated. The 
individual in question cannot at once ascend to the heights of virtue and con- 
quer his thoughts and feelings. He cannot as yet obtain his own consent to 
refrain from all indulgence. The modes of transgression are various; some 
much more serious than others. What then remains for the person who wishes 
to keep on terms at all with his conscience, but that he select that course which 
is least offensive to the public, and least injurious to himself and others, — in a 
word, that in a choice of evils he adopt the least ? Now, of these several depart- 
ures from virtue, in the judgment of all reasonable men, the least aggravated 
is fornication. When therefore Swedenborg pronounces it better that those who 
will degrade themselves and stain their souls to some extent, should avoid all 
injury to maidenly purity or matronly virtue — every thing like seduction or 

*C. L. 451. 

t That these are often used as convertible terms in Scripture, see Matt. xix. 11; John xvi. 
12 ; 1 Cor. vii. 9; GaL v. 17 : Rom. viii. 7. 



166 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

adultery or violence (with none of which he holds any compromise), and 
without roaming at large, content themselves with one, preferring the state of 
marriage all the time, and only betaking themselves to this as a " refuge and an asy- 
lum" in the present necessity, — in such a question of casuistry, we ask, Is not his 
judgment re-echoed by the common sense of the whole Christian world ? 

This then is the head and front, the whole extent, of his offence. He 
has discriminated where others have judged in the gross, or shunned the ques- 
tion altogether; and therefore has been denounced as the patron of immorality 
by men who would give the veteran sinner in the last hour of life, a passport 
to happiness if he but says he repents and believes a set of propositions which, 
in the view of thousands who are diligent students of God's word, and endea- 
vor to walk by its light, contradict the clearest dictates of reason and the 
plainest declarations of Holy Writ. 

But that there might be no pretext for misunderstanding him, he has been 
careful to guard against it by the following cautionary explanations. "There 
are degrees of the qualities of evil, as there are degrees of the qualities of 
good ; wherefore every evil is lighter, and more grievous, as every good is 
better and more excellent. The case is similar with fornication, which, because 
it is lust, and the lust of the natural man not yet purified, is an evil ; but because 
every man is capable of being purified, therefore, as far as he approaches a 
purified state, so far that evil becomes lighter, for so far it is wiped away."* 
Again, " The love of pellicacy is unchaste, unnatural, and external; and (twice 
repeated) it is better that the fountain of ability be reserved for a wife." And, 
finally, as if to prevent even malignity itself from perverting his meaning, he 
closes with the protest " that these things are not said to those who are 
able to restrain the heat of lust, nor to those who are able to enter into marriage im- 
mediately upon their being mature." f 

These are the words. You, Dr. Pond, have read them. Others, who saw 
only the garbled quotation, might mistake, but more than one of the books 
included in your famous catalogue, has adduced the qualifying passages which 
it suited your purpose to omit. Suppose, now, you should stand in a court of 
justice, and being required on your corporal oath, by the judge — who happened 
with the majority of the auditors to be ignorant of this book — justly to declare 
its spirit, scope, and tendency, and that you should give such an account of the 
same as that presented in your volume. Suppose also that thereupon another 
witness should rise : supply your omissions, correct your misrepresentations, 
and appeal to volume and paragraph in confirmation of his statements ; — 
where would you stand next ? Think you that you would ever be permitted to 
testify in a court of justice again % 

(3.) There are two kinds of divorce known to the civil laws of Christian 
countries: the one "from the bonds of marriage," — the other "from bed and 

* There is, says John, a sin not unto death. And thus also it is that Swedenborg does 
not, like some purblind moralists in their headlong zeal, confound all species of this evil as 
>of equal enormity, but holds out to the morally diseased a prospect of recovery : to those who 
have defaced the image of God within themselves, a hope of reformation, if they set before 
them the standard of purity and strive in earnest to free themselves from their chains. But 
there must be no pretence — no self-deception herein, 
f 459, 460. 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 167 

board ;" or, as Swedenborg expresses it, " separation from the bed and house." 
The only legitimate ground for the first, is that mentioned by our Lord in Matt. 
xix. 9— infidelity on the part of the wife j in which case,, either party when 
divorced is at liberty to marry again. 

Separation from the bed and the house is also allowed by the same laws, 
and for many reasons — all of which may be included in either a vitiated state 
of the mind or body. Of these Swedenborg has enumerated some fifty or 
more hi the aggregate, and though the laws under which he has lived all his life, 
provide the same remedy for these and many more of like weight, yet Dr. P. takes 
occasion to urge this also as a sanctioning of immorality by the former. If 
there were five hundred and all could justly be brought within the rule, they 
would be alike operative. Of those which relate to the mind, every one men- 
tioned by him tends to frustrate the very ends of marriage, such as an original 
want or utter privation of intellect, intolerable temper, an unbridled tongue, 
incorrigible imprudence, shameless neglect of parental and household duties 
and the minor morals in general — such, in short, as renders it impossible for 
a man of any sensibility to continue that intimacy and co-operation which 
should subsist between husband and wife in Christian marriage. Of the 
vitiated states of the body mentioned by him, all are included under the gene- 
ral head of incurable and contagious disease. There cannot be two opinions as 
to the privilege of withdrawal to that extent, where mind, body, or estate — it 
may be, all together — are menaced with ruin . And this privilege is reciprocal. 
It enures to the wife if the husband is in a similar condition in any of these 
respects. 

The causes of such separation are either legitimate or just. They are " le- 
gitimate"' when the matter is brought before a judicial tribunal, and separation 
granted by legal authority. But there are cases in which the party under 
duress cannot consent to have his private griefs exposed to the world, and 
made the subject of coarse comment and public scandal. The facts are un- 
doubted — known to himself and family, or to confidential friends. There can 
be no doubt as to the issue, if brought before a judge. But the lady may be 
innocently suffering under calamity — or, if she be culpable, an avowed sepa- 
ration from the house may be injurious to one or both, or to their offspring as 
regards the social position or prospects. He consents, therefore, to remain 
under the same roof, but in a different apartment. These are "just causes of 
separation while the wife is retained at home." The case is adjudged "by 
the man alone," according to just principles applied to the facts, without re- 
sorting to a public tribunal, and were their situations reversed, u the woman alone,'' 1 
would be entitled to the same privilege, though such a case was not under Sweden- 
borg's consideration while he was treating of the others. 

The inquiry now is, what is permissible in such case. The man is allowed 
neither by divine nor human laws to take another wife. He cannot, however, 
forget that he is a man. We are told that Sarah presented her handmaid of 
old to Abraham as a partner of his bed, and that Leah and Rachel were equal- 
ly considerate of Jacob, when as yet there was no such apparent necessity. 
It is neither expected nor required that ladies should be equally complaisant 
at this day. Luther, Melancthon, and other reformers, in defiance of the divine 



168 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

law, permitted the Landgrave of Hesse under such pressure to espouse a 
second consort while the first was yet living. Evangelical Missionaries sanc- 
tion the retention of his two wives by a Mohammedan convert. Thousands 
in Christian countries with such a pretext, plunge into adultery without 
restraint or remorse. But what says Swedenborg 1 

" He who from an early age has loved, has wished and asked of the Lord 
a legitimate and lovely connexion with one of the sex, shuns and abominates 
the impulses of a wandering lust."* " So far as any one shuns adulteries of 
every kind as sins, so far he loves chastity. By adultery, in the decalogue, 
in a natural sense is meant not only whoredom, but also all obscene acts, all 
wanton discourse, and all filthy, unclean thoughts."! " The chastity of Chris- 
tian marriage consists in the total renunciation of whoredom from a principle 
of religion." J Such partners " shun all extra-conjugial loves as they would the 
loss of the soul and the lakes of hell." || The natural man is the seat of all 
such evils. All such loves are natural, g and the mere love of the sex can not 
become spiritual until it becomes conjugial.f The spiritual man, who is in- 
fluenced by the love of the neighbor, will suppress a desire which if gratified 
must be attended by a similar offence on the part of another, and thus imperil her 
salvation also . The Christian then must and can and will submit to the priva- 
tion without repining at the allotment of Providence. He has the divine 
promise which cannot fail, that his temptation shall not be greater than his 
strength, and that he shall be upheld by divine power in this as in all other 
cases. 

He who in such circumstances cannot walk in the narrow path of purity 
may be assured that he is yet a natural man, and to a greater or less extent 
under the dominion of the powers of evil. Nor is conscience in him so sen- 
sitive as that of the other. He judges of the propriety of actions by a lower 
standard.** And he is weaker for the very reason that his mind is not forti- 
fied by the protecting influence of divine truth, nor by making it the guide of 
his every action, has he placed himself under the guardian care of Almighty 
power. It is better that he also learn to subdue his will and avoid all these 
"pleasures of insanity ."ff But if he cannot contain, — and that there are such 
cases is a fact recognised by Paul, J J and observable at this day — if he is the 
slave of sense generally and, in this respect, of habit, then, inasmuch as he is 
denied a resort to that preventive of sin which Paul himself prescribed to his Christian 
converts, \\ || his situation is manifestly similar to that of the unmarried man 
which has been already considered. It is perhaps one of greater hardship, 
for the former can see no termination to his trials during the life-time of his 
consort, whereas the latter may be and often is sustained by the hope of mar- 
riage at a future day. Such an one then who feels that indulgence is to him 
in some sort a necessity, has some apology or exculpation — for him a valid 
excuse {sontica causa)$>% for taking a substitute, provided there be but one and she 

*C. L. 49. f Doc. Life. 74. JC. L. 147. ||71. §48. IF 447. ** H. D. 134. 

tt C. L. 442. XX 1 Cor. vii. 9. |||| Ibid. 2-5 vs. 

§§C. L. 471. This term " sontica" has been sometimes rendered by "conscientious" at 
others by " sufficient." The first translation is clearly erroneous, indeed almost the reverse 
of truth, — the other is ambiguous. There is no single word in English which expresses its 
meaning in this connexion fully. The phrase in the text comes nearest to it. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 169 

neither a virgin nor married woman, and the wife be not resorted to at the same time. 
For the seducer is a robber :* the violator of innocence is a pirate :f heaven is 
closed to the wilful adulterer, who takes pleasure in his sin and shuts his eyes 
to its enormity. The sacred truths he has learned will be perverted or oblite- 
rated, and his capacity for their farther perception be ultimately destroyed. J 
That which is above laid down is the most mitigated form of the necessary 
evil.g If resorted to from this motive alone — if he sincerely-prefers marriage, || 
the rights of which under his circumstances are denied him, he may retain 
the hope of reformation and the power of ultimately becoming chaste in all 
his conduct. It will certainly prevent his sinking lower— -for there is many a 
lower deep, and some from which there is no possibility of emerging. 

But here also there must be no forged pretext — no paltering with con- 
science. If He must be entirely satisfied after the most rigid self-examination 
that he possesses not the power of self-denial. The alienation or perversion 
of mind or temper in his consort, must be hopeless, or her bodily affliction 
incurable and dangerous, for transient affections of either kind furnish no 
excuse. His motives also rest between him and the searcher of all hearts. 
Man cannot judge them. If he has attempted to deceive others or has actually 
deceived himself, the imputations hereafter will be according to his real pur- 
pose** and he takes the ambiguous step at his own peril. 

Such, we assure our readers, is the 'plain intent and meaning of Sweden- 
borg's teachings on the subject. And is there a man not stricken Avith judicial 
blindness, who caimot see the difference between this construction and that 
given by Dr. P.? It is moreover the only fair construction of his words, and 
the only one which was ever put on them by his followers. We have said 
before, that "having much to write he was the most methodical of writers. 
A position once laid down, he did not think it necessary to repeat it wherever 
it was applicable, but takes it for granted that the reader who is willing to 
weigh his argument impartially will bear it in mind." Some of the principles 
necessary to a proper understanding of his conclusions are dispersed through 
the volume, and might not be apparent at first to a careless perusal. A suffi- 
cient number of these we hope are now collected to put our readers in posses- 
sion of his argument on this case of conscience — the discussion of which has 
been shunned by Protestant divines in general. We ask now of him who has 
heard it stated nakedly and without qualification that " Swedenborg recom- 
mends! the keeping of a mistress and a concubine," whether there could well be 
a falser charge under the semblance of truth? Does he justify it in the abstract? 
Does he anything more than tolerate in the morally diseased a less departure 
from rectitude than was permitted by Divine authority to the Israelites of old 
" for the hardness of their hearts *»j-f 

Ought not then this plain tale to put down this prevaricating witness who 
has taken up an unjust reproach against his neighbor. XX " Time was, when 



•504. f 311- J 464, 466. §530. || 475. 11473,474. ** 527. ft Matt. xix. 8. 

IX We do not say that Dr. P. has gone the length of some venomous tongues which have 

intimated in whispers that the followers of Swedenborg claim such liberties for tlicmsclves. 

If such were their principles, the fruits would certainly have been manifested in some one 

instance in the course of half a century. How can that be true of the whole which is true 



170 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

the brains wore out, the man would die," but this calumny seems to be en- 
dowed with an ever renewed freshness. It is not enough that the Ecclesias- 
tical bodies of the New Church should have from time to time disclaimed the 
injurious interpretation, or that her accredited organs should on all suitable 
occasions deny its justice and set the subject in its true light, or that every 
individual member of the Church should repel the imputation with scorn • — 
ever and anon comes some resurrectionist of slander to take up the carcass 
from the ditch to which it had been consigned again to galvanize it into life. 



CHAPTER XL 

DR. POND'S ESTIMATE OF SWEDENBORG, AND VARIOUS MINOR CAVILS, CONSIDERED. 

Having passed in review the entire series of objections — such as they are — 
to the doctrines and claims of Swedenborg, adduced by this redoubtable 
champion, we come, finally, to consider the manner in which he has summed 
up this estimate of our authors character, and of the state of mind in which 
he wrote his Theological works. 

After looking back with serene complacence on what he flatters himself he 
has done in the way of demolishing the former ; with a most remarkable mo- 
desty, he thinks the only question which requires to be considered before com- 
ing to a conclusion on the other grave matter, is, " was he a deluded fanatic, or a 
wilful and wicked impostor V and with a philanthropy and charity, equally 
extraordinary, he desires and thinks it possible to avoid the latter alternative. 
" He regards him as, in the main, honest in his pretensions, and has no doubt 
that he really thought he enjoyed that kind of intercourse with angels and 
spirits of which he speaks. There is an artlessness, a simplicity, a sincerity 
about him, a disregard of personal reputation and influence ; a seeming con- 
fidence in the truth of his disclosures which an impostor could not well as- 
sume." Nor is this all. — " He was a laborious student in his way — a calm, 
quiet and benevolent man. He was as capable of reasoning on most subjects 
as ever he was, and retained the vigor of his faculties to old age, in a remarka- 
ble degree." There remains then for his comprehensive logic but the one sup- 
position. Swedenborg, was a monomaniac, or a natural somnambulist, rea- 
sonable on other subjects, but deranged, inasmuch as " he was in a state in 
which he seemed to himself to look in upon the other world, to behold around 
him spirits and angels, and to have intercourse and conversation with them — 

of no single individual? If the charge from being general was made specific, and the per- 
sons designated to whom it was said to be applicable and who yet retained their standing 
in the Church — while some would hold it foul scorn even to notice the accusation, others 
might deign to cite the accuser before a public tribunal, there to learn what it was to incur 
the sanction of an outraged law. 

But Dr. P. has adopted and given currency as far as in him lay to the minor slanders, 
and for an edifying comment on such conduet we refer him to the following texts of Holy 
Writ. Ex. xxiii. 1 ; Lev. xix. 16 ; Ps. xv. 3; ci. 5-5 ; Jer. ix. 4-9; Prov, x. 18; Rom, 
i, 30 ; Tit. iii. 2 ; Jas. iv. 1 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 1. 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 171 

a state not constant nor optional but usual."' Kind Doctor, we kiss your hand. 
Such benevolence deserves our cordial thanks. And, strange to say, we are 
obliged to you both for your good opinion, and for the want of it. We will not 
ask, because you could not afford to grant, more. 

A certain character in the Book of Job, is reported to have said, " all that a 
man hath will he give for his life." Whether this be true or not, there can be 
little doubt that there is many an Evangelical Doctor, who will sacrifice much 
of his own and all that belongs to another, for his faith. Yes, before he will 
condescend to presume it possible that he may be mistaken as to a jot of his 
creed, he would impeach the character or the intellect of any or all who called 
it in question. It would have been rather too adventurous to assert in the face 
"of all history,'' that this " gentleman, moral, religious and sincere," could have 
profanely assumed to bring revelations from God, while he was all the time 
wearing the mask of the hypocrite. But if his purpose were honest, it would 
seem that such pretensions put forth by such a man, are worthy of impartial 
examination. Some other expedient must be found for dispensing inquirers 
from a task which might lead to farther and irksome duties. And the Doctor 
has fallen on that which, though neither novel nor ingenious, is the only one left. 
This virtuous and pious man has assailed what we choose to call the Evan- 
gelical faith, therefore he must have been mad. But you grant that he was 
learned and laborious, and retained the vigor of his faculties to old age. "Oh 
yes, he was as rational as ever on all subjects except one or two : but on those 
which pertained to his revelations, his mind was disordered ; it had become 
unbalanced. There can be no reasonable doubt of it." 

Be it so then, for the moment. We must still inform you that you have taken 
scarcely a step towards the accomplishment of your object. Does this exempt 
you from the duty of examining his works on their own merits % What if they had 
all been published anonymously, as most of them were ? But though the author is 
known, it behoves you none the less to examine a s} r stem which has been em- 
braced by many intelligent minds, and to demonstrate its fallacy and danger. If 
you insist that you have done this, there remains an alternative for us. We 
are compelled to question either your motive or fitness for the task. We must 
either pity the obtuseness which has failed to perceive it both as a whole and 
in its parts, or we must contemn the perverseness which has misrepresented 
it throughout. 

Again : conceding for argument's sake that you could prove Swedenborg to 
be insane "on this particular point," in what category shall we place you ? 
What are we to think of you and your fellow-laborers in the same work ; who 
after all your prodigious preparation and painstaking have made such wretch- 
ed failures? What, a mad man dispel the thick clouds of mystery which had 
hung over the most important subjects of human thought, and which the entire 
priesthood of all religions had failed to pierce before ! A madman erect a fabric 
on which Doctors of Divinity and Professors of Theology, have turned their 
batteries without being able so much as "to disturb the cement'' which unites its 
walls ! If Folly has succeeded in rearing such a fortress, what are we to 
think of the pretended wisdom, which has not yet overthrown it ? 

But to the proofs, or what are offered as such. 



172 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

(1.) The first is a rumor unfavorable to the state of his health; the probable 
state of his mind, and subject of his studies, just before his supposed illumina- 
tion ; and the accounts given by himself and others of that remarkable event. 
(2.) He sometimes speaks of sensations in the head, "in a way to indicate dis- 
order there." (3.) He acknowledged himself that he was several times in a 
state analogous to somnambulism. (4.) His private habits during the last thirty 
years of his life "were " strange." True, they were just such as we might have 
anticipated, if he really exercised the power and discharged the function to 
which he pretended, and he was incapable of wilful imposition, but they were 
different from those of other people, then and now, and therefore they " clearly 
indicate derangement." (5.) Many of his contemporaries thought him " a men- 
tally disordered man." (6.) Other persons, evidently diseased in body and 
disordered in mind, such as Nicolai and the Seeress of Prevorst, have seen 
spirits, therefore Swedenborg was insane. These are the principal, and with 
some of less moment to which we shall also attend, make up the entire evi- 
dence to sustain the charge. 

(1.) And first, the reader will perceive that this whole hypothesis of insanity was 
founded on a fabricated assertion that Swedenborg had a fever of the brain just before 
his supposed illumination. Its falsehood was known to Dr. P., yet he has deliberately 
repeated it. Not wishing to weary the reader with repetition, we refer him to 
what we had occasion to state on this subject in the beginning. We will just 
remind him of what was there said, that if he had ever an access of fever at all, 
it was ten years after the date specified, and his subsequent writings fully 
accord with those which precede. But the probability is that he never had 
such a disease. No one in Sweden, where he was best known, had ever 
heard of it. Chev. Sandel, before the assembled nobility and academicians of 
the realm, all of whom knew Swedenborg well, declares, " he always enjoyed 
most excellent health, having scarcely ever experienced the slightest indisposi- 
tion."* Mr. Henry Peckit of London, an early reader of his works — on inquiry 
of those who had known him long and well, states that " he seldom or never 
complained or any bodily pain until a short time before his death."f 

The story originated with a Mr. Mathesius, Chaplain of the Swedish Em- 
bassy at London, a bigotted Lutheran, and personally hostile to Swedenborg. 
Dr. P. "has seen evidence" of this last particular. This is very modest in a 
Bangor Professor, Anno Domini, 1846. Mr. Springer, Swedish Consul at Lon- 
don, who was a friend of Swedenborg, and knew them both, says so. Mr. 
Bergstrom, with whom Swedenborg had lodged, and was a parishioner of the 
other, confirms the statement. Swedenborg, while on his death bed, refused 
to receive the communion from him, on that very account, and sent for anoth- 
er clergyman ; and Mathesius-, — as if retributively stricken for his malignant 
calumny — went mad himself and died in that state. And this exploded false- 
hood—known by him to be such — is picked up by Dr. P., because without it he 
could not make out even a plausible case. 

But Mr. John Wesley says he had a fever, and thought he was mad. Now 
we desire to think w^ell of Mr. W., who in a degenerate age strove to stem the 

* Documents concerning Swedenborg, p. 36. 
flbid, 181. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 173 

torrent of corruption, which had invaded all ranks, and to carry what he 
thought the Gospel to the most neglected classes : of John Wesley, who, how- 
ever mistaken in other respects, rejected the peculiarities of Calvinism with all 
his spirits and strength. But his enemies have thought he was guilty of reve- 
ries himself, concerning certain strange appearances and sounds which dis- 
turbed his father's house and family. And those who would cherish his memo- 
ry with respect, would do well never to mention his name in connexion with 
th is subject. J. Wesley never saw Swedenborg. and of course could know noth- 
ing personally of the matter. Mathesius, one of his witnesses, is not a credi- 
ble authority ; and the other, a Mr. Brockmer, with whom Swedenborg board- 
ed in London, and at whose house the illness was said to have occurred, from 
whom Mr. W. professed to have derived confirmatory evidence with additional 
circumstances, on being interrogated before witnesses, solemnly declared that 
11 Swedenborg never had a fever at his house, and that he had never said a word to J. 
Wesley, or any one else on the subject."* How are we to account for this discre- 
pancy ? Mr. W., as the founder of Methodism, had the same motive with the 
Lutheran Mathesius, or the Evangelical Dr. P., for wishing to believe him mad. 
Mathesius, who had the seeds of madness in him, may have mistaken the 
wish for the reality, and communicated it as a fact to Wesley. The latter was 
in part mistaken as to the source from which he derived the fiction, which he 
unconsciously embellished with a few touches of his own. Such is a proba- 
ble, and the more charitable mode of explaining this extraordinary statement 
which was first circulated in print forty years after the pretended fact, by a man 
who could in the same paragraph say that Swedenborg was " a man of strong 
understanding," and yet " a madman." 1 , 

Thus much as to the state of his body. As to his mind, he was meditating 
a philosophical work, in which he wished to embody many of the results of 
his preceeding researches, and it is not usual for one who is thus occupied to 
become deranged on religion. This work, though entitled "The Worship and 
Love of God," is more philosophical than religious ; and whatever the learned 
Professor of Bangor may think of its merits, one Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who 
has been thought to know a little concerning Philosophy, read it with the most 
unaffected admiration, and accorded it a high eulogium. 

The account of his extraordinary call, as published by himself, is the most 
natural and unaffected possible. The more detailed narrative imparted to his 
friend in the confidence of private friendship, was reported by the latter from 
memory, and is possibly inaccurate — certainly less authentic. But though 
more circumstantial it contains as we have seen nothing irreconcileable with 
the most entire sanity and self-possession — nothing incredible to one who be- 
lieves in the possibility of spiritual vision. 

(2.) According to Swedenborg, there are in the Spiritual World, innumera- 
ble societies, arranged in the human form. The mode in which they operate 
on the living man to induce sensation, or pain, or disease, is by what he calls 
"influx" into that part of the body which corresponds to the part of the 
Greater Form in which themselves are situated. This he learned by varied 

* Documents concerning Swedenborg, p. 111. 



174 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

experience. Thus, on one occasion, he was seized with sickness from this 
source which lasted three days and a half, during all which time he was con- 
scious of its origin and effects. At another time he " perceived a change in his 
brain, and a powerful operation thence proceeding;" and he would have been 
equally sensible of it, if it had affected any other part of the body. Now, each 
of these is to Dr. P., " a very mysterious circumstance," though Swedenborg, 
has repeatedly explained their nature. But, if he had not, is it very common 
for deranged persons to be aware of the disorders in their brain, to be sensible 
of them, to observe and record them 1 

(3.) In 2 Cor. xii. 2; and Acts viii. 39, 40, are two remarkable expressions. 
Paul did not know " whether he was in or out of the body: 1 Philip, after his inter- 
view with the Ethiopian " was carried by the Spirit to another place," a clear expo- 
sition of these mysterious phrases was long desired by Christians. Now Swe- 
denborg states that " for the sake of illustrating," and " that he might know its 
quality," he " was two or three times let into these states :" while in them " he know 
no other than that he was wide awake." He does not say that it was "op- 
tional," whether he should be let into this or any other spiritual states, but that 
it was permitted for a particular purpose. He remembered his sensations, and has 
recorded these " experimental " cases for our instruction. And here comes 
candid Dr. P. and asserts that he "fell into" and was " subject to such fits'' 11 of 
" somnambulism /" that " he may have had them frequently ! !" that they were 
habitual, and that "his followers concede it! !" How could he know that this 
state " was not one of full wakefulness of body," since he says that while in 
it, " one cannot know any other than that he is altogether awake V But what 
if he remembered on coming out of it, all that then passed % Verily, the critic 
must have been hardly bestead when he calls this "somnambulism" — or 
makes it a proof " of mental aberration " — not reflecting that both of the Apos- 
tles would be equally scathed by the reflection. 

(4.) Swedenborg — as before said — professed to have had his spiritual sight 
opened that he might obtain knowledge important to the proper understanding 
of Christianity, and this during many years. Sometimes he kept his bed for 
several successive days and took his food at irregular intervals : at others he 
would seem to converse with those who were not visible to a third person : at 
others again, it is recorded that his eyes would shine with a preternatural 
light. Now though he himself told his servants that during his abstinence and 
protracted sleep " he was well and had needed nothing ;" and again that " the 
brilliancy of his eyes, which had alarmed them, would soon disappear, and 
would hurt neither him nor them ;" all of which proved true ; and though he 
explained to inquirers the cause of his apparently "talking to himself" at va- 
rious times, yet Dr. P. thinks that tfiese several symptoms — the most import- 
ant of which have their parallels in Scripture — are indicative of insanity ! It 
is granted that he was reasonable on other subjects, and the Lecturer does not 
openly deny the possibility of spiritual vision — though he has unwittingly ex- 
hibited his incredulity more than once. Supposing it true that the gift was im- 
parted for a public object, was there anything unnatural in these incidents ] 

(5.) The disciples of Swedenborg have never denied that some of his con- 
temporaries affected to think him deranged. They only denied that it was true. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SVVEDENBORGIANISM. 175 

They demand the proof, and all they receive — other than the surmises of the 
ignorant and the interested — is the clumsy story of a hostile and lying priest, 
which, though exploded at the time, is caught up and re-echoed by others of 
the same stamp from that day to this. 

We must own also that some of the Swedish clergy, on learning that his 
writings had begun to attract public attention, became alarmed and inimical. 
A faction among these at first proposed to denounce him as a heretic, but find- 
ing it easier to belie the man than to refute his doctrine, they industriously cir- 
culated a report that he was insane and framed an artful conspiracy to have 
him tried, condemned, and confined as such. Their nefarious scheme was 
penetrated by certain high officers of state, who, knowing the falsity of the 
charge, could well divine the motive which had prompted it. They were not 
so ignorant of history or human nature as to be unaware of the sleepless hate 
of a hierarchy when once aroused, or of how unscrupulous they could be in the 
use of means to effect their purposes. His persecutors — having been foiled in 
their first attempt by the intervention of these honorable laymen — fell back on 
their original design. But Swedenborg having met the charge and submitted 
his defence, they sustained a like ignominious defeat here also. Dr. Beyer, 
a distinguished divine, who had been prejudiced by the rumor to which we 
have referred, was so fortunate as to make the acquaintance of our author, 
and having heard from his own mouth an exposition of his system, yielded to 
the force of truth : became an avowed adherent of his doctrine, and thereby 
drew on himself a like persecution, but happily with a like result. And thus 
has it ever been, with a few honorable exceptions, in every country where his 
writings have been circulated. Ridicule, calumny, conspiracy, terrorism, de- 
nunciation, every means except that of open and fair argument have been 
used to prevent their spread or to neutralize their influence ; and though often 
with effect, yet still they survive and bide their time. 

(6.) Dr. P. is welcome to all the aid he can fairly derive from his instances of 
individuals, who, while diseased, saw more and other things than when they 
were tranquil and well. Nicolai, naturally of an irritable temperament, was 
thus troubled only when he was worn with anxiety and disappointment. The 
Sceress of Prevorst was the acknowledged victim of the most distressing 
nervous affection. A third was wounded in the head during a brawl : a fourth 
in battle. Some "were the voluntary dupes of their own superstitious fears; 
others, the subjects of various nervous maladies, were the inmates of hospitals. 
We make him a present of these and as many more such as he may choose to 
collect: for they are all explained by the philosophy of Swedenborg and by no 
other. But. were it otherwise, what then ? Are we to infer that, because the 
seers were disordered in body, the objects seen were imaginary in all the cases, 
even if some of them were persuaded to think so afterwards ? Do they not 
rather prove that there is a spiritual world and that persons labor wig under particular 
forms of nervous disease, or by certain kinds of superinduced nervous excitement, may be 
admitted to a partial view of it . Nor would it follow from this that the information 
brought thence was either credible or otherwise of value, merely because it came from a 
source above nature. And if Swedenborg had done nothing else, he has, by deduc- 
ing this last as a law of the spiritual world, stricken a blow at the root of all de 



176 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

grading superstitious and foolish fears. When Dr. P. shall have proved, in the 
face of testimony to his uniform health of body and mind by the most respect- 
able individuals who knew him best and had no motive to deceive, that he 
was affected in any of those ways, we promise to consider his examples far- 
ther. We may say, moreover, that we have never heard that any of those persons 
professed to bring from that world revelations of important religious truth. If 
the Reviewer or any of his coadjutors shall bring from such a source a pre- 
tended refutation of our author's doctrine, or something better in lieu of it, we 
promise to give it a fair hearing. 

The Dr. has dwelt at some length on the case of the Seeress. That he should 
deny the truth of her visions is natural enough. And yet we suspect he would 
cut a pretty figure by the side of Kerner and Eschenmayer and numerous other 
philosophers, who, sceptical at first of the asserted facts, gave their credence after 
a full and dispassionate examination. We must also correct a small error into 
which he has fallen relative to one of her dicta. He pronounces her idea of the 
soul and body being united by " the nerve spirit" more reasonable than Sweden- 
borg's. They happen to be the same, though a little differently expressed, as 
witness the following extract. " The natural mind of man consists of spiritual 
substances, and at the same time of natural substances; from its spiritual sub- 
stances becomes thought, but not from the natural substances ; these substances 
recede when a man dies, but not the spiritual substances ; wherefore that same 
mind after death, when a man becomes a spirit or an angel, remains in a form 
similar to that in which it was in the world. The natural substances of that 
mind, which, as was said, recede by death, make the cutaneous envelope of 
the spiritual body, in which spirits and angels are. By such envelope, which 
is taken from the natural world, their spiritual bodies subsist : for the natural 
is the containing ultimate" (D. L. fy W., 257). 

Again : Rev. William Tennent once promised to give a particular account of 
what he saw during his memorable trance. He omitted to do so — or none was 
found among his papers. Yet the brief intimations he has left are credible to 
Dr. P. — perhaps because he "was an evangelical clergyman. Possibly he may 
alter his mind when he is informed that they contain nothing irreconcileable 
with Swedenborg's account of the same scenes. 

It seems also that Professor Hitchcock, an orthodox divine, may have a fever 
temporarily affecting his brain yet passing off without farther ill effects. Such 
a concession, we would suggest to the Dr. must have been a lapsus pennce, as, 
if carried out fairly, it would seriously damage his whole argument founded 
on the fictitious statement regarding Swedenborg. 

Mr. Le Roy Sunderland must be " a marvelous proper man" to have " caused 
persons of a certain temperament to imagine they were conversing with angels and 
spirits while they were awake;''' 1 and to believe himself that " the visions thus in- 
duced were as real and partook as much of the supernatural as any of those of 
Swedenborg." He has not told us whether any one attempted a similar trick 
on the latter person. Mr. S. may be a great authority among the Bedlamites 
of Massachusetts, but not with us. We do not feel at all more inclined to em- 
brace Materialism because it has been advocated by him than by any other 
credulous physiologist. We would propose, however, that he continue his 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 177 

wonder- workings, and if, with the addition of his own ingenuity to that of all 
his Pathetics, he can call up a refutation of the system of Swedenborg, or some 
more credible revelations than his, we promise him a hearing also. But we 
must tell him beforehand, that if after such a declaration he can evoke no bet- 
ter specimens than those furnished by Dr. Woods, he deserves to take the place 
of his patients. 

Swedenborg has given the following as a reason why it is not desirable that 
the power of spiritual vision should be indiscriminately given at this day. 
" The spirits which attend a man are such as are in agreement with his affec- 
tions and thoughts. Hence, did he openly converse with them, they would only 
confirm him in his existing state of mind, and add their testimony to the truth of all 
his falses, and the good of all his evils. Enthusiasts would thus be confirmed 
in their enthusiasm, and fanatics in their fanaticism." 

The truth of this as a general law seems to be verified by the fact that the 
spirits seen by any particular individual, generally exhibit a sameness of char- 
acter bearing some analogy to his previous pursuits or ideas. But Swedenborg 
saw them of all kinds — none however with wings — and whatever Mr. Emerson 
may say, we scarcely suppose that Dr. P. himself believes that all of his spirits 
; ' Swedenborgize. :1 This was hardly true of Luther, or Melancthon, or Calvin ; 
and if by any force of logic or imagination it could be made apparent in the 
others, it would only prove that our author was a more " myriad-minded man*' 
than Shakspeare himself. For no other writer has so completely laid bare the 
springs of human action, or so well defined the real diversities of character. 

Nor should we be surprised at any accordance between the philosophical 
ideas included in his theological works and those which had been before 
reasoned out by himself. This may be accounted for in either of two modes. 
He has told us that he was prepared for his mission by all his previous train- 
ing " from his youth up."' And if his philosophy to that extent is true (and 
certainly it has not been scathed by Dr. P.), it ought to be incorporated with 
his* religion — at least should not come in collision with it. 

That he has dwelt much upon the dogmas of Tripersonalism and Justification 
by Faith alone, is not denied ; but it was because these are the fountains from 
whence have issued the poisonous streams that have withered " the garden of 
God ;•' and too great pains could not be taken to draw off their bitter waters. 

To eke out his hypothesis, the Reviewer quotes the dicta of certain physicians, 
which, if true, would prove all revelation to be impossible. Thus Dr. Ferriar 
has said, " a partial affection of the brain may exist which renders the patient 
liable to spectral illusions, without disordering the judgment or memory ! From this 
peculiar condition of the sensorium, the best supported stories of apparitions may 
be completely accounted for."' 

The first proposition is simply absurd. If the affection did not disorder either 
memory or judgment, the seer would not believe illusive appearances to be real. 
The latter, we should have thought, ought to prove rather too much for any 
man calling himself a Christian. But such things are. And it is not impos- 
sible that Festus may have had a D. D. or an M. D. to fortify him with just such 
a notion when Paul told him his memorable relation which occasioned hi?- 
charge of madness against the Apostle. 
13 



178 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

Dr. Knight, of New Haven, declares, " in a certain diseased state of the nerves 
of the senses, sensation is experienced without the presence of the objects 
upon which it ordinarily depends. Such is the case with persons in delirium 
tremens and in acute fevers." This, though neither novel nor original, is probable 
enough, though we cannot see how it strengthens the other part of his theory, 
viz : " These also are they, who see visions and dream dreams, to whom 
revelations of hidden and mysterious things are made, and who converse with an- 
a-els, or with the spirits of the dead. 1 ' If this notion be tenable now, in all its 
breadth, it must have been true at all times ; and if applied to the seers, proph- 
ets, and apostles of old, and to numberless of the early Christians, would in- 
volve them in the same category of fraud or madness, and would moreover 
leave us without any certain test by which to distinguish a true prophet from 
a false one. And such is the profane Materialism which is endorsed by an 
Evangelical Professor of Theology in the nineteenth century ! Then by what right 
does a physician lay down a principle "which, in effect, prejudges the question ? 

The same demand is made of the Phrenologist with his " marvelousness." 
The fundamental principle of his science — which if true in its basis, is yet far 
from complete — asserts a plurality of organs in the brain, and that each of 
these has its special function or functions. Suppose now that a particular 
part of the brain is active in cases of spiritual vision, does it therefore follow 
that the vision must necessarily be unreal or the action morbid ? And thus it 
is that of all the credulous animals on earth, the most so is the psychological 
quack who would make his ignorance pass for knowledge. He uses a few hard 
words without meaning, calls a strange exhibition by a new name ; and not only will 
this thin disguise impose upon the little vulgar, and serve as an excuse with the 
great vulgar for dismissing an intrusive idea, but the successful charlatan be- 
comes in time the dupe of his own quackery. But again we ask, " what has 
Dr. P. to do with Phrenology, that other science which, a few years since, in 
the eyes of the Evangelical, was Materialism, and led to Infidelity, Atheism and 
so forth % When Geology, and Phrenology, and John Wesley, and hostile Lu- 
therans, and Worldlings, and Materialist Physicians are brought into requisition 
against Swedenborg, it would seem to be the result of a new and ingenious 
application of the maxim, "Fas est ab hoste doceri." 

So eager is he in the pursuit of his object that at last he is entirely thrown 
off his guard. Thus Swedenborg having propounded the law of ordinary 
spiritual vision given above, "never," says the Reviewer, "did he utter a 
greater truth. . . The only difference between him and me, relates to the 
nature of the spectres in question, he regarding them as real beings, and I as 
imaginary!" Here the whole secret has escaped. Dr. P. in his heart is a 
Sadducee and does not believe that spirits are real beings. If he had been as candid 
at first he might have spared both himself and us much circumlocution, and 
we could have met his brief assertion by as brief a denial and appealed to the 
divine Word as the judge between us. Finally, he winds up his theory with 
borrowed thunder of the same sort. " His spectres followed chiefly in the 
train of his natural thoughts, giving a sort of personal existence and reality to what 
were before the theories and abstractions — the mere conceptions — of his own mind. This 
theory harmonizes all the known facts in the case of Swedenborg ; and to my 



DR. PONDS REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 179 

apprehension it is the only one which does. I propose it, therefore, and I ac 
cept it, as the truth P That is to say — imagination informed him of a fire which 
was taking place at the very moment three hundred miles off. Imagination told 
him secrets which otherwise could not be known to any living mortal, or to 
none others than the inquirers who put him to the test. Imagination revealed 
to him an account of the other world, reasonable in itself and which harmo- 
nizes all the scattered notices of Scripture. Imagination enabled him to illumin- 
ate all the dark places of Theology and imparted to him a doctrine so reason- 
able and so Scriptural that every effort to undermine or overthrow it, has thus 
far left it only more impregnable ! Credat Judceus ! 

Such then are the frivolous pretexts for attempting to cast a shade on that 
majestic intellect, whose early splendor, and whose strength reared trophies 
that excited the wonder and regard of all that was most learned and respecta- 
ble hi his own country, and of kindred minds throughout Europe ; and whose 
maturity was called to as important a function as ever mortal was invested 
withal. Well and faithfully was it discharged. Nor have all been ungrateful 
for the service. And his memory will be cherished with still deeper homage, 
when " a world which has forgotten its God" shall have been aroused from 
its slumbers, and the nations shall follow their pioneer and guide in the only 
patli which leads to purity and peace. 



CHAPTER XII. 

CONCLUSORY. 
APPEAL TO DR. POND. 



If the reader has accompanied us thus far with his patient attention, there 
remains but little for us to add : and that we address principally to the Rej 
viewer himself. You have " urged your objections to the doctrines and claims 
of Swedenborg. You have gone into a consideration of the character and 
state of his mind, that your readers may have the means of forming an intelli- 
gent opinion in regard to him." And our readers can now judge how much 
weight is to be ascribed to the former, and the degree of credence which is 
due to the latter. If you had observed the ordinary honesty — not to say cour- 
tesy, of a disputant, you would not have reiterated old stale objections, nine- 
tenths of which you must have known were refuted long before. If you had 
really desired to deal fairly with the author, as you protest, it was not neces- 
sary to have quoted as largely as you have done. A little more compression 
in some cases, if there had been no suppression in others, would have con- 
veyed a far better idea of his meaning than you have imparted. The ques- 
tion of ' ; decency" is also remitted to the same tribunal. That you have often 
misapprehended his sense, is probable ; that you have more frequently mis- 
stated it, is certain. You "make no pretension to a sixth or seventh sense;" 



180 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO 

nor to a sense of justice either, while writing on this subject. You " claim 
only the ordinary intelligence of a man, and if in the exercise of this . . • 
you have failed to represent them fairly, then they are unintelligible.'''' Which 
being interpreted means, that the thousands who conceive the meaning of the 
most perspicuous of writers differently from yourself, are either fools or hypo- 
crites. You have "aspersed no one's character." It is not true then that 
you have quoted the reports of spies, and there is no such phrase as " filthy 
dreamer," in your whole book. You have " impeached no one's motives." 
No one then was charged with " slandering" the distinguished dead, or with 
"misrepresenting" the doctrines of the living. You have " assailed no one 
with harsh or bitter words." The spirit which dictated your "Review" is ill- 
concealed, as ingenious as you may think yourself; and though you have 
generally been as guarded in your expressions as if you were a disciple of 
Loyola himself, yet you have occasionally indulged in expectorations which 
could hardly have been worse if you had set up for a model of scurrility.* " If 
you are not mistaken you have written in a spirit of Love. 1 '' 'Tis true you 
have sometimes favored us with a jest — rare if not very rich — but if this be 
your general strain of affection, what is your idea of a spirit of hate ? 

Your general conclusion from the whole examination is, that " Swedenbor- 
gianism is not Christianity" — nor are its professors so much as " a Christian 
sect." " When certain persons abuse us," says Lacon, " let us ask ourselves 
what kind of character it is they like ; we shall often find this a very consola- 
tory question." We might possibly have been alarmed at your fulmination, 
and have asked ourselves whether we had a Protestant Pope in America. 
But our fears subsided when we came to consider the five notable reasons for 
this judgment. 

We have a ready reply to them all, and a sufficient preservative of our tran- 
quillity in reflecting: (1.) That the New-Churchman does not worship three 
"Gods" or "persons" or "somewhats," but the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the 
Christian's God and the only God. (2.) Our faith is deduced from, and in en- 
tire harmony with, that Bible which is sequestrated by Catholics : a mystery in 
the hands of Protestants, and perverted and abused by both. (3.) Our hope of 
salvation is founded on the truth that "God was in Christ reconciling the world 
unto himself" — and that by faith, charity and obedience to his laws, we may 
be individually reconciled or " atoned" to him in turn. (4.) If we might be 
"made just," and therefore saved by faith alone — and that at the last gasp of 
life — we could not see the necessity of any " rule of morality," except as an 
idle ceremony ; but knowing of no such potent or elastic faith, we accept the 
infallible Canon of duty given in the decalogue. (5.) We are human beings 
here and have no reason to think that we shall be transformed into something 
different in kind hereafter, or that we shall there find other and higher beings, 
between us and our God. We can conceive no use for a body of flesh in a 
spiritual world. And while for ourselves we expect to enter on our retribu- 
tion immediately on leaving this scene— which will be happy or miserable 
according to the character formed here — we also believe that this will ever be 

* See pp. 112, 115, 118, 196, 211, 215, 223, 227, 234, 236. 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIANISM. 181 

preserved as the natal soil, from which fresh emigrants will be travelling to- 
wards the throne of the Eternal. 

Such, in brief, are our principles. As they have sustained us under heavier 
inflictions than your denial of Christian fellowship, so we are happy to know that 
there are many professing Christians of the Old Church, in America — aye 
among the more liberal portion of the Evangelical sects — who would not dare 
thus to consign us over to "the uncovenanted mercies of God" — sugaring over 
the curse with the compliment, that " a Swedenborgian may perhaps be a Chris- 
tian, although he has but a grain of truth in a bushel of errors." "You can 
respect your Swedenborgian neighbor as a citizen and a man ; you can per- 
form for him every kind and friendly office ; you can accord to him all civil 
and social rights, and seek his good for time and eternity." Put y^our profes- 
sions hi practise then. Refrain from misrepresenting them and their princi- 
ples. We ask no more of you; and when we fail to reciprocate such courte- 
sies, you will have a far more plausible ground of objection to " Swedenborgian- 
ism." than any you have incorporated in your book. 

You denounce certain ministers of the Old Church for holding our views and 
still retaining their pastoral relations, although they adopted these principles 
after their ordination : make no secret of them, and are permitted by their supe- 
riors to remain in their former connection. And Swedenborg himself incurs 
your reproach for not having formally separated from the Lutheran Church. 
You forget perhaps that in a preceding page* you had expressed the very op- 
posite sentiment. 

• ; If Swedenborg was deranged," say some, "his followers are not, but many 
of them are highly intelligent. How are we to account for this *" You ac- 
knowledge the fact : share in their surprise, and very politely inform them 
that it is not more strange than that certain Fathers of the Church should have 
given in to heresies, or that there are such people as Mormons and Shakers. 
Not to be behind you in civility — you will pardon us for saying that we also 
have heard questions asked and answers returned to the following effect : 

" Did you ever know a Predestinarian who was willing to believe that he 
himself was among the reprobate % And can you account for the fact that so 
many kind-hearted and apparently truth-loving men even profess a religion 
which holds out such harsh and terrible views of the character of Deity ; such 
exaggerated and unjust views of the character of man ; such gloomy views of 
the world and its fate ; such false views of human duty : which damns the 
heathen : leaves the fate of infants uncertain, and consigns the majority of 
men, hi Christian countries, to eternal perdition, for not doing that which they 
had no power to perform ?" " Sir, they did not make their creed, and are 
therefore not wholly responsible for its errors. They have inherited or adopt- 
ed it, as convenient : perhaps they knew no other and hence make its main- 
tenance a point of honor. They have been told by their teachers that these 
subjects are unintelligible, and therefore they walk all their days in the twi- 
light of ' mystery.' They suppress doubt, eschew inquiry ; or, if they suspect 
that all is not right, they dread its avowal, or fear to brave public opinion, by 

* Page 32 



182 A LAYMAN" S REPLY TO 

countenancing a truth which happens not to be in vogue." To which might 
have been added, in your own words : " Man is naturally a religious being. 
He must and he will have some kind of religion, and when he departs from 
the plain standard of the Bible, there is no accounting for his vagaries." "But 
how did such notions originate T y a Alas ! sir, there are men of atrabilious 
temperament, who do not love their fellow-creatures as they should, and think 
that God is altogether such an one as themselves. They wish a pretext for misre- 
presenting Him and denouncing them. " Such persons are also constitution- 
ally more exposed to extravagances of this kind than others. They are not 
satisfied with plain, intelligible ideas. They are fond of paradox more espe- 
cially in matters of religion. And the more incredible the dogma appears to 
reason, the more likely will it be to gain adherents, especially if it proceeds 
from a self-styled Evangelical Reformer." 

We do not know that we ought to quarrel with your " special reasons," to 
account for the adoption of this faith by intelligent minds. Our religion is 
"poetical" and sublime ; but it is also simple and true. It vindicates the Deity 
as " a God of Love •" justifies His ways to man : consoles under trials, and 
therefore it is attractive to the benevolent heart. 

We must also own that "it does reject the offensive dogmas held by the 
Evangelical. (Hinc illce lachrymce /) " Some are dissatisfied with their notion 
of a Tripersonal Deity ; and still do not wish to become Unitarians, in the 
more common acceptation of the term. And so they adopt the New-Church 
view of the Trinity which verily does remove all difficulty and makes the 
matter perfectly plain." They cannot understand how man can be saved by 
"mere thought." And though they ascribe no "merit" to the Christian life, 
they can perceive how a character formed on that model will fit the subject 
for future happiness ; which a just and merciful God will apportion to his capa- 
city. They never said that it was an " easy" thing " to shun evils as sins 
against God," or a small matter to obey the decalogue. But they do not be- 
lieve it impossible to learn obedience. Though they may commence in much 
weakness ; their piety and charity being but as a grain of mustard-seed, they 
hope, by the divine aid concurring with their own dilligence, to grow in strength, 
knowing that their labor, whatever it be, will not be wholly in vain. 

The New Christian Church is yet in its infancy, and in the wilderness. How 
long it may be detained there we know not. But " the Earth abideth for ever: 1 
Our doctrine, we believe, was " revealed from Heaven ;■" and Truth is stronger 
than all and must ultimately prevail over whatever may oppose it. Her God, 
we trust will watch over her — be in the midst her — defend his own cause and 
make her at length, what she has the capacity of becoming, " the crown of all 
churches." 

Most heartily then do we join in the exhortation to your readers. "Let us 
be thankful for the Bible. Let us love it more, and study it with greater dilli- 
gence and fidelity : interpret it fairly and honestly." Let us neither be fright- 
ened with the cry of "mystery!" nor get turned aside to follow meteors 
which may delude us to our ruin." But whose is the delusion ? Is it with us % 
and do you verily suppose that " the perusal of the entire works of Sweden- 
borg" would dispel it from our minds. Some of our number do not possess all 



DR. POND'S REVIEW OF SWEDENBORGIA.NISM. 183 

hi? volumes, but would willingly accept them even from their friend Dr. P. — nay, 
offer themselves as subjects of his proposed experiment, if thereby they may 
obtain the coveted treasure. Again, then, we ask, "where is the delusion'?" 

The Rev. John Clowes of Manchester, England — that venerable man, who 
for more than sixty years worshiped the Christian's God, and preached Him 
to others : who walked in a bright and elevated tract of piety which endeared 
him to his parishioners, and demonstrated the tendency of his principles to a 
wide circle of acquaintances, and whose intellect was as polished and 
vigorous, as his heart was warm — when rudely assailed by an Evangelical 
opponent for holding what the other was pleased to style " a delusive and 
dangerous heresy," meekly replied, "I have examined it, and this examination 
has been continued now/or upwards of forty years, during which period I have 
asked myself a thousand and a thousand times the following questions : 
Can there be any delusion and danger in believing Jesus Christ to be the Most 
High God, and in drawing nigh unto and adoring Him accordingly ? Can there 
be any delusion and clanger in loving this God with all my heart, and soul, 
and strength ; and putting my whole trust in Him ? Can there be any delu- 
sion and danger in acknowledging Him to be at once my Creator, my Re- 
deemer, and my Regenerator ? Can there be any delusion and danger in being 
persuaded that what is commonly called the word of God, is in very deed and 
truth the Word of God : in acknowledging this Word to be replenished with 
the divine love and wisdom in all its parts and in endeavoring to keep all its 
holy precepts, by forsaking all sin, and living a good life under the blessed 
guidance and influence of its divine Author ? Can there be delusion and dan- 
ger in loving my neighbor as myself, and fulfilling my duties towards him, by 
doing to him as I would have him do to me ? Or, in abounding in good 
works, whilst I acknowledge humbly and gratefully that all my power to do 
them is from Jesus Christ, and that consequently all the merit of them belongs 
to that great and holy God ? Or, in believing that I have free-will, and that if I 
had not I could not be a man, and that consequently I am responsible before 
God for my own conduct ? And lastly, can there be any delusion and danger 
in ascribing all evil to man, and not to God ; and thus in insisting that man 
by the abuse of his free-will, has given birth to sin, to death, to hell and to all 
its torments, whilst the mercy of God has been continually striving to avert all 
those mischiefs, and to mitigate where it could not avert % I have asked my- 
self, I say, these questions a thousand and a thousand times, and at every time I 
have been more and more convinced that they ought to be answered by a 
positive and peremptory, no. Can there then, I ask farther, be any delusion 
and danger in the system which recommends and enforces the above Evangeli- 
cal duties ? And the same peremptory and positive no, resounds, not from my 
own voice alone, but from the tongues of all the heavenly host, who sing 
•Alleluia : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth: "* 

Such, also, are our principles ; and such are they like to be, unless their 
fallacy can be shown, or something better offered us in their stead. 

But judging from the past, we see little likelihood of either. The warfare. 

* Letter to Rev. W. Roby, p. 98. 



184 A LAYMAN'S REPLY TO &c. 

as hitherto conducted against Swedenborg, persists in ignoring the fundamental 
positions involved in the system. Our adversaries refuse to deal with our pre- 
mises, and incessantly urge their assault upon our conclusions. But on this 
ground, what do all their "arguings reprove'?" What do all their earnest 
and voluminous diatribes amount to in the way of achieving a conviction of 
the falsity of our views % If they would reason to any purpose, let them show 
that the laws of the Divine and human nature are not what Swedenborg 
affirms them, or, failing this, let them evince that the great doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, as propounded by him, do not legitimately found themselves upon 
these underlying laws. When this is accomplished some progress is made 
towards our discomfiture in the field of debate; but until then we bestow 
only a tranquil smile upon the elaborate impotence of our opponents. 



APPENDIX A. (p. 89.) 



During a discussion between Catholics and Protestants, which took place in 
1828, at Freemasons' Tavern, London, the following sentences were quoted by 
the advocates of Romanism from Luther, and passed without challenge : 

" Though the Papists (writes Luther) bring heaps of Scriptures, as commend- 
ing good works, yet I care not for them though they bring more. Thou, Pa- 
pist, art very brag with thy works and Scripture : yet Scripture is a servant of 
Christ; therefore it moves me nothing. Rely thou upon the servant; I will 
rely upon the Master and Lord of Scripture : to him I yield ; I know that he 
will not lead me into error. I will rather adhere to him than, for all Scriptures, 
to be altered a hair's breadth from my opinion. Therefore the ten command- 
ments do not belong to us Christians, but only to Jews : which is proved out of 
the text, speaking to those whom he brought out of Egypt, who were Jews, 
not Christians. We will not admit that any of the bad precepts of Moses be 
imposed upon us. Wherefore look that Moses with all his law be sent pack- 
ing in malam rem — with a mischief — and that thou be not moved with any terror 
of him, but hold him suspected for a heretic, cursed and damned, and worse 
than the devil."— {Noble's Lecture, pp. 450, 451.) 

In a volume of Discourses — the joint contribution of clergymen of various 
denominations — which led to the preliminary meeting of " The Evangelical 
Alliance,*' is an Address by Rev. J. Angell James, a Congregational minister, 
and justly esteemed evangelical writer in England. Having displayed in 
forcible terms the evils of division in the Protestant Churches, he had also the 
sagacity to perceive and the candor to acknowledge that they were traceable 
in a great degree to the spirit which was generated by the prevalent doctrine 
of " Justification by Faith alone:' 

"Men have been busy, in the eagerness of their misguided zeal, and the sel- 
fishness of their wicked hearts, to improve upon inspired wisdom, by inverting 
the apostolic order of the graces, and making love the last and the least of the 
three ; nay, their mischievous attempt has not stopped here, for, in effect at 
least, they have endeavored to blot it altogether, and to reduce religion from 
the divine triplicity that St. Paul has given it, to a mere duality, and to make 
it consist exclusively of faith and hope. And since we are everywhere taught 
that Religion is God's image in the soul of man, what does all this come to, as 
the last reach of its turpitude, but to rifle the divine character of love, its in- 
effable glory, and to make Jehovah simply a God of truth and justice 1 Leav- 
ing, then, the number and order of the graces as we find it in Scripture, and 
practically submitting to the truth of the apostolic declaration, that ' the great- 
est of these is charity,' let us sit down again at the feet of this inspired teacher, 
and, studying afresh the genius of Christianity as it is portrayed in his elegant 



186 APPENDIX B. 

and beautiful personification, let us put on charity, which is the bond of per- 
fectness ; and thus attired, be prepared for union with all our brethren. 

" Is there, then, notwithstanding our differences, a principle known — a prin- 
ciple attainable by us all — a principle which is an integral part of our religion 
— a principle which if it were more cultivated and in full exercise, would sub- 
jugate all that is low, and selfish, and malevolent in our nature ; and which, 
while it filled our own bosom with peace, would give us peace with our fel- 
low-christians of every name ? There is. It is love — holy love — heavenly 
love — christian love. But where is it to be found % In the heart of God, in the 
bosom of Jesus, in the minds of angels, in the spirits of just men made perfect, 
and in the pages of the New Testament, we know : but where on earth shall 
we find it ? It ought to be seen in beauty and in vigor in the church of Christ ; 
this is built to be its mansion, and for its residence. But how little is it to be 
found in this its own and appropriated abode ? How frequently is it driven 
away by the strifes, divisions, and clamors of other spirits, that have obtruded 
into its proper domicile, and rendered that habitation, which was intended to 
be the seat of uninterrupted peace, and of untroubled repose, a scene of noisy 
conflict and fierce contention'? Let us all join our efforts to cast out the un- 
clean spirits that have driven away love from her abode : and, reinstating the 
heavenly tenant in her own possession, let us yield up our hearts to her holy 
and benignant sway." — (Essays on Christian Union, pp. 217, 218). 



APPENDIX B. (p. 90.) 

Many Christians, well informed on other matters pertaining to religion, have 
a very inadequate idea of the peculiar tenets of the modern Jews, chiefly be- 
cause the sources of such information are not generally accessible. A recent 
" History of all the Religious Denominations in the U. S." contains an article on 
" The Jews and their Religion," by Rev. Isaac Leeser, one of their number. 
From this we have selected a few passages, to indicate to our readers both the 
nature and the inveteracy of their prejudices. 

" The Being to be adored . . is uniform. . . There are no discoverable 
means to divide him into parts. . . He is without bodily conformation, with- 
out outward shape." 

He speaks of " the Abrahamic discoveries" in the ethical sciences • that the 
Jews were " the first and for a long time the only nation who believed truly in 
the Creator alone :" that " the precepts of the Decalogue," although divine, 
were possessed by them before all other nations. 

"We totally reject the idea of a mediator, either past or to come : we reject 
him whom the Christians call their Messiah : and we assert that for our part, 
the law is of the same binding force, as it was in the beginning of its institu- 
tion. . . We assert that the Deity is one and alone ; that hence, no mediator, 
or an emanation from the Creator is conceivable. . . We contend that the 
Scriptures teach an absolute, not a relative Unity in the Godhead, that the same 
Being who existed from the beginning, and who called forth all that exists, the 
Lord God of Hosts, is the sole Legislator and Redeemer of all his creatures. 



APPENDIX B. 187 

We contend that a divided Unity, or a homogeneous Divinity composed of 
parts, is nowhere spoken of in the Old Testament, our only rule of faith, and 
that nothing, not contained therein, can become, by any possibility, matter of faith or 
hope for an Israelite. We know well enough that some ingenious accommoda- 
tions have been invented by learned men to reconcile the above texts, with the 
received opinions of Christianity ; but we have always been taught to receive 
the Scriptures literally : we assert that the law is not allegorical ; that the de- 
nunciation of punishment against us has been literally accomplished; and 
that therefore no verse of the Bible can, hi its primary sense, be taken other- 
wise than in its literal and evident meaning, especially if this is the most ob- 
vious, and leads to no conclusion which is elsewhere contradicted by another 
biblical text. . . If God be absolutely one, if he is not conceivable to be di- 
vided into parts, if there is no Saviour besides Him, it follows that there can be 
no personage, who could by any possibility be called ' Son of God,' or the 
mediator between God and man. An independent Deity he cannot be, neither 
can he be an associate ; and if he be neither, how can he be more a mediator 
than any other creature 1 — since one man cannot atone for the sins of another, 
as we are informed in Exodus xxxii. 33, ' And the Lord said unto Moses, Who- 
soever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book ;' which evi- 
dently teaches, that every sinner has to make atonement for himself, and can 
obtain pardon only through the undeserved mercy of the Lord. If now the 
mediator is not the Creator himself, he cannot orTer an atonement, nay not even 
himself: and if he could he would be equal to the one from whom all has 
sprung ; and such a being is impossible in accordance with the testimony of 
the Bible. From this it follows that we Jews cannot admit the divinity of the 
Messiah of the Christians, nor confide in his mission upon Unitarian principles, 
since the books containing an account of his life, all claim for him the power 
of mediatorship, if not an equality with the Supreme, both of which ideas we re- 
ject as unscriptural. If then there has been as yet no manifestation of the 
diviDe will, in respect to the repeal of the law (since we cannot believe a mere man 
to have, by simple preaching, and the exhibition of miracles, even admitting their 
authenticity, been able to abrogate what God so solemnly instituted), we again claim 
that the whole ceremonial, and religious as well as civil legislation of Sinai, is 
to this day unrepealed, and is consequently as binding on us Israelites, the proper 
recipients of the Mosaic code, as on the day of its first promulgation. We in 
this manner acknowledge and maintain that we do not believe in the mediator- 
ship, nor hi the mission of the Messiah of the Christians, nor in the abrogation 
of the Mosiac law of works. But we nevertheless contend that this rejection of 
the popular religion, is no cause for the entertainment of any ill-will against 
us, nor for the efforts which some over-zealous people every now and then make for our 
conversion. . . Properly speaking the Jews have no profession of faith ; they 
hold the whole Word of God to be alike fundamental, and that in sanctity, there 
is no difference between the verses, 'And the sons of Dan, Hushim' (Gen. xlvi. 
23), and : I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of 
Egypt, out of the house of bondage' (Ex. xx. 2)." 

Among their articles of belief are the following. The belief in the incorporeality 
** rt»R Creator, that He is not a material being, and cannot be affected by acci- 



188 APPENDIX B. 

dents which affect material things. The belief in the truth of the prophecy of 
Moses, and that he was the greatest of all the prophets and wise men who have 
lived before him or will come after him. The belief in the permanency of the law, 
and that there has not been, nor will there ever be, another law promulgated by 
the Creator. The belief in the coming of the King Messiah, who is to accom- 
plish for the world and Israel, all that the prophets have foretold concerning 
him. " It will be seen that a distinctive feature in our belief is, the permanency 
of the law revealed on Sinai, through Moses, the father of the prophets, which 
precludes the admission of any new revelation, or the abrogation of the old covenant. 
Another, " the belief in the absolute unity of God," with the addition that " there 
is no being but the Creator to whom we should pray," precludes the admis- 
sibility of a mediator, or the mediating power between God and us mortal sin- 
ners of any being, whose existence the imagination can by any possibility conceive 
as possible. We think and maintain, that these principles are legitimate deduc- 
tions of the text of holy writ : and we must therefore, if even on no other ground, 
reject the principles and doctrines of Christianity, which teach, first, that a 
new covenant has been made between God and mankind other than the reve- 
lation at Horeb ; and, secondly, that there is a mediator, an emanation of the 
Deity, through whose merits only man can be absolved from sin, and through 
whose intercession prayers will be accepted. All this is foreign to our view 
of scriptural truth, and as such we reject it, and hold fast to the doctrines which 
we have received from our fathers." 

" The Messiah whom we expect is not to be a God, nor a part of the Godhead, 
nor a son of God in any sense of the word ; but simply a man, eminently endowed 
like Moses and the prophets, in the days of the Bible, to work out the will of 
God on earth, in all that the prophets have predicted of him. 

" We believe that the time may be distant, thousands of years removed ; but we 
confidently look forward to its coming, in the full confidence that He who has 
so miraculously preserved his people, among so many trials and dangers, is able 
and willing to fulfil all he has promised, and that his power will surely accom- 
plish what his goodness has foretold. " 

We ask now, " Has Swedenborg misrepresented the character of the Jews as 
a people ?" Here is a portrait drawn by one of themselves. So long as this 
infatuated race retain such principles of interpreting Scripture, and if even 
miracles which established their law cannot repeal it, have they not fenced out 
all approach to their minds from without ? There is no hope of any alteration for 
the better which does not originate among themselves. And happily there are 
symptoms of a change going on among them in Europe at this hour, not only 
as to some of their ceremonial observances, but of more liberal views as to 
matters of faith. We hardly think it morally possible, however, for any great 
number of Jews to accept Christianity, except on the principles of the New 
Church. Our doctrine furnishes a ground of compromise, on which not only they 
but every known Christian sect might meet in harmony, and it will enable them 
all to trace their past differences to the several points at which they diverge 
from each and from the true standard. As a small " sign of the times" we 
may mention that " Tancred," a work of fiction by Mr. Benjamin D'Israeli, M. 
P. and a Jew, though breathing generally the spirit of the Hebrew, contains a 



APPENDIX D. 189 

number of sentiments with regard to the sole Divinity of the Saviour and other 
subjects, to which we as New Churchmen can subscribe; some so remarkable as to 
make it a phenomenon in that kind of literature, if they may be regarded as an 
index of a growing state of opinion among the more intelligent minds of that 
race. We only regret that our space does not permit us to extract them also. 



APPENDIX C. (p. 89.) 

If the passages cited in the text are not sufficient to prove that Swedenborg 
has fairly represented the opinions of Calvin and his followers, we would re- 
fer the reader for proof to the fourteenth of " Chapman's Sermons on the Minis- 
try, Doctrines and Worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church," pp. 225-232. 



APPENDIX D. (p. 96.) 

The assertion in the text may be justified by the following paragraphs from 
Mr. Hallam's Hist, of Lit. I. 195, 280, 281. 

' ; Servetus, though not at all an Arian, framed a scheme, not probably quite 
novel, which is a difficult matter, but sounding very unlike what was deemed 
orthodoxy. His tenets seem to be nearly what are called sabellian." 

" The title of the first treatise [or ' Christianismi Restitutio'] runs thus : — { De 
Trinitate Divina, quod in ea non sit invisibilium trium rerum illusio, sed vera 
substantia? Dei manifestatio in verbo, et communicatio in spirtu.' 

" Servetus distinctly held the divinity of Christ. ' Dialogus secundus modum 
generationis Christi docet, quod ipse non sit creatus, nee finitse potentiae, sed 
vere adorandus, verusque Deus.' 

11 He probably ascribed this divinity to the presence of the Logos, as a mani- 
festation of God by that name, but denied its distinct personality in the sense of 
an intelligent being different from the Father. Many others may have said 
something of the same kind, but in more cautious language, and respecting 
more the conventional phraseology of theologians. Ille crucem, hie diadema. 

"The tenets of Servetus are not easily ascertained in all respects. Some of 
them were considered infidel and even pantheistical ; but there can be little 
ground for such imputations when we consider the tenor of his writings, and 
the fate which he might have escaped by a retraction." 

Chauffpie and Alwoerdon. biographers of Servetus, appear not to have appre- 
hended very exactly or fully, his views on this subject. They have, however, 
given copious extracts from his writings, which render them perfectly intelli- 
gible to a New Churchman. The works themselves are exceedingly scarce, 
but a MS. copy of each of the principal treatises is in the Library of Harvard 
College, and these may afford the means of tardy justice to the memory of a 
man who has been the victim of calumny for three hundred years. 



190 APPENDIX F. 

APPENDIX E. (p. 159.) 

" The distinction of sex rooted in the spirit itself." In the Foreign Quarterly 
Review, No. LVI. Art. 4, we have a critique on the works of Wm. Van Hum- 
boldt. In this article some extracts are given from an essay, in which the dis- 
tinctive characteristics of the male and female mind are very happily set forth, 
going to show that the distinction of sex is rooted in the spirit and is of course 
eternal . 

The same article makes honorable mention of a then recent work by a 
Mr. Haughton, " On Sex in the World to come," in which the same truth is phi- 
losophically deduced from a great variety of considerations, without ever in- 
fringing on delicacy. This work is also reviewed with copious extracts in 
Int. Rep. 4th Series, Vol. III. 150, 223. 



APPENDIX F. (p. 163.) 

These approved historians are not alone in their judgment on this subject. 

A Mr. Foster, Chaplain to Bishop Jebb of Limerick, after nine years study, pub- 
lished in 1839 a book entitled, " Mahometanism Unveiled," which was approved 
and sanctioned by his Diocesan, of which we have an account in the Ed. Rev. 
No. 100, Art. 1. The Reviewer says, " He (Mr. F.) undertakes to prove that the 
Mussulman is a Christian in disguise. [This is farther than we go.] . . He pro- 
nounces it to be just as impossible to account for the rise and success, as for 
the propagation of Christianity, by merely human causes. The failure of pre- 
vious attempts to overcome this difficulty, by such arguments as rejected a 
special Providence, led him to the conclusion, that a special Providence had 
interposed. He soon discovered that direct evidence to this effect existed in 
the Old Testament. Every one is aware, that a twofold promise was made by 
God to Abraham, in behalf of his sons Isaac and Ishmael. By the terms of 
this promise ' a blessing is annexed to the posterity of each, as a mark of divine 
favor towards the seed of Abraham. They are to become great nations, sig- 
nally connected with the providential history and government of mankind. 
The greater promise made to Isaac has received a temporal and spiritual ful- 
filment, first in the establishment of the Jews in Canaan, and afterwards in the 
propagation of Christianity. The lesser promise to Ishmael has had no analagous 
fulfilment ; unless it be in the rise of Mahomet, and in the temporal and spiritual es- 
tablishment of his creed. It becomes, therefore, of the utmost importance, to de- 
monstrate a corresponding analogy, in the facts that respectively constitute 
this alleged fulfilment of the two parallel covenants. With this view, the 
analogy between Judaism and Christianity, on the one hand, and Mahomet- 
anism on the other, is traced the twelve elaborate sections. The position 
hitherto occupied by Mahometanism, in its capacity as a middle term between 
Christianity and Paganism, is of course only intermediate. But whilst we are 
waiting for this further consummation, in the conversion of its own communion 
to the more perfect faith, its immediate usefulness as a necessary halfway house, 
and the sole efficient instrument for the conversion of the Heathen, is shown in a point- 
ed manner. The gospel scheme, it is admitted, is unsuited to the condition and ca- 



APPENDIX F. 191 

pabilities of uncivilized nations. The failure of Christian Missionaries to barbarous 
countries, is contrasted with the striking success of Mahometanism. It thus 
discharges the servile indeed, but necessary functions of a pioneer." 

See also Noble's Appeal, 528, App. I. § 20, for Adam Clarke's sanction of the 
same idea — approved by all who did not know the source from whence he de- 
rived it. 

In 1845, Rev. J. J. W. Jervis, of England, in a work entitled " Mahomet's 
Mission Asserted," has followed out with competent learning a similar train of 
thought to a like conclusion. [See N. C. Advocate, 19, 56, 127]. 

Perhaps Rev. Isaac Taylor would be regarded by Evangelical readers as a still 
higher authority than any of those authors. Will they then decry such senti- 
ments as these from his " Saturday Evening ?" " Those fanciful analogies 
which it has become the fashion, abroad, to employ for the illustration of the 
history of nations (much to the hurt of all sound principles) are to be carefully 
avoided. Or at least we should not build an argument upon any such uncertain 
ground. This caution premised, it must be confessed that, in contemplating 
as a whole the history of the two magnific superstitions which now sway all the 
nations of the middle stage of civilization — embracing the south of Europe, 
the south of Asia, the northern regions of Africa, and South America, it is dif- 
ficult (in regard to both of them alike) to exclude from the mind the resem- 
blance which their history bears to the course of human life, from the vigor of 
youth to the decrepitude of age. Is it not as if the many nations we have 
mentioned, were now in tutelage, under the hand of a venerable pair — male 
and female, both equally stricken in years ; and both equally petulant, jealous, 
rigid, and effete \ and very likely to go to their sepulchres in company % 

" The grave and masculine superstition of the Asiatic nations, which employ- 
ed the hot blood of its youth in conquering all the fairest regions of the earth, 
spent its long and bright manhood in the calm and worthy occupations of 
government and intelligence . During four centuries the successors of Maho- 
met were the only men the human race could at all boast of. In the latter 
season of its maturity, and through a long course of time, the steadiness, the 
gravity, and the immoveable rigor, which often mark the temper of man from 
the moment when his activity declines, and until infirmity is confessed, be- 
longed to Islamism, both western and eastern. And now, is it necessary to 
prove that every symptom characteristic of the last stage of human life, at- 
taches to it? Mahometan empire is decrepit; Mahometan faith is decrepit: 
and both are so by confession of the parties. In matters both civil and religious, 
those days are come upon this superstition in which — ' The sun, and the moon, 
arid the stars are darkened.' 

" But in what terms are we fairly to describe the present health and powers 
of the haggard Superstition of the West ? If the strength of immortality indeed 
be in her, to what region has the vital energy retired % — is it kindling about the 
heart ? Is it within and around the pestilential levels of the Tiber, that we are 
to find the force, the concentration, the fervor, that should belong to the centre 
of a living body ! Or may we choose among the extremities % Is the Cath- 
olic faith otherwise than decrepit, as it exists in the midst of the sceptical in- 
telligence of the North of Italy ; or by the side of the mystic unbelief of Ger- 



192 APPENDIX G. 

many ? Or shall we prefer the mockery of France, to the debauchery of Spain, 
and of Portugal, when we are thus in search of the power and promise of 
popery % But perhaps Ireland is the asylum of the true and indestructible 
religion ! Those who will console themselves with such a supposition, shall 
not be disturbed in their dreams ; and yet will we not hold our conclusion in 
suspense — that Popery, like Mahometanism, and every other superstition of 
mankind, is in its wane. Upon the Church of Rome, most conspicuously, 
have come the many loathsome infirmities that usually attend the close of a 
dissolute life. She who once lived deliciously, and courted kings to her couch, 
is now spurned, and mocked, and hated, in her wrinkles. Every ear into 
which she would whisper an obsequious petition, is averted from the steam 
of her corrupted breath !" 

Mr. T. Carlyle, in his " Hero-Worship," devotes a separate chapter to Maho- 
met, and seems to have taken a more favorable view of his personal character 
than any of the rest. 



APPENDIX G: (p. 135.) 

The following extracts from the work of Clissold referred to in the text, 
will be seen to develope very important views in connection with the subject 
of Scriptural interpretation : 

" An argument in favor of the literal sense alone is derived from the consid- 
eration, that God intended his Word should be understood ; and that in order 
to be understood, it must be received in one sense only, and that one sense 
generally the literal. The argument is thus stated by Dr. Sykes : 

" Words are the signs of our thoughts, and therefore stand for the ideas in 
the mind of him that uses them. * * Were God therefore to discover any- 
thing to mankind by any written revelation, and were he to make use of such 
terms as stand for ideas in men's minds, he must speak to them so as to be 
understood by them. They must have in their minds the ideas which God in- 
tended to excite in them." — {Principles and Connexion of Natural and Revealed Re- 
ligion distinctly considered, by Arthur Ashley Sykes, B.D.) 

" In the examination of this argument, let us begin with the premises, and 
consider the author, the intention of the author, and the art of understanding 
what the author has written. 

"First, then, with regard to the author. It may be asked, who in the present 
case is the author ? Not the Prophets, nor the Apostles, but God himself. Now 
the same God has said, " My thoughts are not your thoughts," &c. (Isa. iv. 8.) 
Therefore, in the present argument for the literal sense alone, is involved a the- 
ory of inspiration which regards not God as the author of the Bible, but man. 
But if God be the author and not man, and if his thoughts be not our thoughts, if, 
nevertheless, he has used words to express his thoughts, which we use to ex- 
press our own, and if our own thoughts as attached to the words, be to us the 
plain, obvious, and literal sense of the words, do we need any further argu- 
ment to show, that, if we understand the words in this sense only, we are not 
understanding them in the sense designed by God f Bishop Marsh observes : 



APPENDIX G. 193 

« « When we interpret the words of a sacred historian, and consider those 
words as signs to the reader of what was thought by the author, we may re- 
gard the historian himself as the author. But when we interpret a prophecy 
we must distinguish between the author and the writer. For when the knowl- 
edge of the writer is communicated to him by an immediate suggestion of the 
Holy Spirit, we must consider the Holy Spirit as the author of that knowledge, 
which the prophet, as a writer, communicates to the reader. . . Whoever 
was the author of a passage, which we propose to interpret, we must conclude, 
that he used his words in such senses, as he supposed would be ascribed to 
them by his readers. For if he used them in other senses he would not inform 
but mislead. Consequently, whether we interpret prophecy on the supposition 
that the words were chosen by the prophet, or interpret prophecy on the sup- 
position that the words were chosen by the Holy Spirit, we must on either 
supposition apply the same rules of interpretation. 1 ' — (Led. VIII. p. 403.) 

•• Now the learned prelate has distinctly shown, that in an allegorical inter- 
pretation, the words are not used in other senses, but in the same sense ; con- 
sequently, that even in allegorical interpretation, the literal sense is retained as 
the basis of the allegorical. It is clear, therefore, that he nullifies his own ar- 
gument. 

: - Next let us consider the intention of the author. 

-• It is affirmed, that his intention is that we should understand what is writ- 
ten. But whatever may be the Divine intentions, no one who believes in the 
freedom of the will, can suppose that they can interfere with it. Man is as free 
to understand or not to understand, as he is free to will or not to will ; in so far as 
the illumination of the understanding is made to depend upon the purity of 
the will. Now the intention of the Divine Author, as indeed the intention of 
every author, is to convey his own thoughts in words best adapted to express 
them; and every author, of course, wishes that his words so expressed, should 
be to others the signs of those thoughts. The usage of them in the proper 
sense is the part of the author, the understanding of them is the part of the 
hearer ; but so far from its being the design of the Almighty that all should 
understand, without relation to the state of the will, the reverse is expressly 
stated in many parts of Scripture. : I thank thee, 0, Father, Lord of Heaven 
and Earth," says our Saviour, "that thou hast hid these things from the wise 
and the prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it 
seemed good in thy sight.' 

" Mr. Birks, in his Elements of Prophecy, although the advocate of a generally 
literal interpretation, shows the fallacy of the present argument in support of 
it, for he observes : 

• ; : The maxim of interpreting literally, if taken alone, may lead to errors quite 
as serious as an opposite maxim of unrestrained and perpetual allegory. 
What do we mean by a literal interpretation ! One in which words have the 
same sense ascribed to them which they usually bear in daily life. Now this is one 
half of the truth needed for a right interpretation of the Scriptures. The Word 
of God is a revelation to man. To be useful to men, it must be definite and 
intelligible, and in this sense, literal. But it is also a revelation from God. 
Now, to be divine, it must contain higher truths, nobler thoughts, more full and 
14 



194 APPENDIX G. 

deep conceptions, than such as man conveys to his fellow-man. Therefore in 
employing human language, it must exalt and expand the meaning of the 
terms which it employs. It belongs to that kingdom of God which eye hath 
not seen, neither hath it entered into the heart of man. Hence all its messages 
bear the same character. They are literal, for they are given to man ; they are 
mysterious, for they proceed from God. To rob them of their mysteriousness 
is just as fatal as to dissipate them into uncertain allegories. Now these two 
elements, which clearly exist in every part of Scripture, may appear, in dif- 
ferent parts, in very different proportions. Some may be so literal as scarcely 
to be distinguished outwardly from a merely human history ; others may be 
so mysterious as almost to baffle the profoundest research of the most devout 
and thoughtful minds, and the most dilligent efforts to determine their mean- 
ing.' — (Birk's Elements of Sacred Prophecy, p. 250.) 

" Another argument in favor of the literal sense alone, which we have now 
been considering, is by some writers put into a different shape. Thus, in the 
Rules for the Interpretation of the Prophetic Scriptures, as stated in the second 
lecture on the Destiny of the Jews, the argument is set before us in the follow- 
ing manner : 

" ' Considering that it must have been the design of the author really to instruct 
his readers, the words which he has employed in his discourse must be un- 
derstood according to the sense usually attached to them by persons who 
spoke the language in which it is composed.' — (The Destiny of the Jews, by the 
Rev. Thomas Tatter shall D. D. p. 42.) 

" Now even where an allegorical or spiritual sense is assigned to prophecy, 
we have already seen, that the words retain the sense usually attached to them 
by persons who spoke the language in which it is composed. The primary 
sense of the words, in this case, is not altered, but a secondary sense super- 
added. Again it is said on page 43 : 

" ' Considering next, that, for the same reason, the author would employ his 
various terms of expression, in such senses as he was aware the parties to 
whom he addressed himself would attach to them, Ave may therefore conclude, 
that the words of an author are to be understood in the sense affixed to them 
by the persons for whose benefit they were immediately written.' — (Lee. T. T. 
as above.) 

" But if this be the case there can be no such thing as a wrong interpretation 
of prophecy, for -as the words are to be understood in the sense attached to 
them by the persons for whose benefit they were immediately written, it fol- 
lows, that whatever sense they think proper to affix, must be the true one. 
Therefore, in any given passage, the literal sense affixed by the literalist is the 
true sense, the figurative sense affixed by the figuralist is the true sense ; the 
mystical sense affixed by the spiritualist is the true sense • for all the four dif- 
ferent senses are affixed to them by the persons for whose benefit they were 
immediately written ; and as there may be a hundred different applications of 
the same prophecy, by a hundred different literalists, to a hundred different 
events, so all these hundred literal senses are equally true also, since they are 
the senses affixed to the words by the persons for whose benefit they were im- 
mediately written." — (Apoc. Interp. Vol. I. pp. 176-185.) 



APPENDIX. 195 

P. S. We omitted to notice in the body of our Reply a very serious charge 
of the Reviewer, viz : " That Swedenborg, without ceremony, sends- all Uni- 
tarians to perdition." The utter falsity of this imputation must also have been 
known to the Dr., for it is especially exposed in "Hindmarsh's Letters to 
Priestley." (Let. III. Sec. 13.) Swedenborg teaches that it is dangerous to con- 
Jinn one's self in any error, so as to close the mind against the force of evidence 
in the other life; but he often declares that all who lead a good life according 
to the religion they profess will be saved; and, if sincere lovers of truth r will 
be divested of their errors in the future world, as views radically at variance 
therewith cannot be tolerated in the Christian heaven. 

The writer of this is acquainted with but few persons of that faith. He does, 
however, personally know some, and many others by reliable report. He has 
moreover read some of their most approved works and periodicals, and the 
result of the whole is, a belief that for just opinions on many points, for lib- 
erality, and the practical Christian virtues, they put to shame thousands of great 
professors of religion in the evangelical churches. Their fundamental prin- 
ciples, as professed, is indeed wide as the poles asunder from that of the New 
Church, but we doubt not also that many of them, at this day,, have a far high- 
er idea of the character of the Saviour and more true veneration of Him, than 
Dr. P. himself. 

Unitarians, we take it, will appreciate this new-born zeal of the Dr. in their 
behalf at its full value. 



CORRECTIONS. 

For the somewhat unusually large amount of errata here indicated, the author refers him- 
self to the indulgence of his readers, on the ground of having been prevented, by his distant 
residence, from correcting the sheets as they issued from the press. As some apology also 
for the printer and proof-reader, he is constrained to confess to a hand-writing of rather 

.cramped and illegible character ; so that, for himself, he would not have wondered had the 
list of errors been greater instead of less. 

Page 5, line 9th — for * was suddenly,' read * were suddenly.* 

" " " 14th — for ' manner,' read 'measure.' 

" 7 " 5th from bot., for ' visions,' read ' axioms.' 

" 9 " 28th — for ' his nature,' read ' its nature.' 

" " " 30th — for ' firm,' read 'fixed.' 

" 12 " 14th — for ' as instanter,' read ' co instanti.' 

u 17 " 15th — for ' contract,' read ' construct.' 

" 20 " 16th — for ' were from,' read 'even from.' 

«« " " 17th — for ' we have,' read ' leave.' 

" " *' 33d — for ' directed,' read ' diverted.' 

" 21 " 21st — for * arising from,' read ' wrung from.' 

" " " 26th — for ' inferred,' read ' enforced.' 

" 23 " 17th — for ' invisible,' read ' miserable.' 

" " " 5th from bot , for ' indrawing,' read ' withdrawing.' 

« 30 " 33d — for ' transfer,' read ' transpose.' 

" 34 " 28th — for ' little honor,' read ' like honor.' 

" 35 " 25th — for ' prosecutor,' read ' persecutor.' 

" 36 " 21st — for ' resaratit read ' resanati.' 

" 40 " 1st — for ' not,' read ' met.' 

" 43 " 5th — for ' acts,' read ' arts.' 

«' 48 " 15th — for ' letters,' read ' lectures.' 

«' 53 " 17th from bot., for ' or,' read ' of 

" " " 9th from bot., for ' explanations,' read ' explanation.' 

« 55 " 22d — for ' successfully,' read ' successively.' 

« 61 " 7th — for ' reading,' read ' reaching.' 

« " " 29th— after ' at,' add ' its.' 

" 62 " 6th from bot., for ' inapt,' read ' inept.' 

" 72 " 6th from bot., for 'in the,' read ' without.' 

" 73 "28th — for ' called,' read 'held.' 

«« 75 " 4th — for ' ever,' read ' never.' 

" 76 " 2d from bot., for ' sometimes,' read ' something.' 

« 77 " 1st — for ' unapparent,' read ' an apparent.' 

" 81 " 26th — for ' Beware,' read ' Be sure.' 

" 82 " 4th— for ' God,' read ' good.' 

'* " " 23d — for ' Judges,' read ' Jude.' 

« " " 25th— for ' Reverend,' read ' Reviewed.* 

«« 87 " 31st— for 'ever,' read ■ over.' 

" 88 " at bottom— for ' Jew,' read ' Serv.' 

" 91 " 32d — for ' temporal,' read ' tri-personal.' 

" 92 " 14 — for ' know,' read ' knows.' 

" 96 " 4th — for ' systems,' read ' system.' 

" 111 " 1 2th from bot.— for ' present,' read ' purest.' 

" 115 " 25th— for ' part is," read ' part in.' 

" " " 28th — for ' in,' read ' on.' . 

" 129 " 6th from bot., for ' expositional,' read < expositonal. 

" 135 " 6th— for ' read,' read ' revel.' ? 

" 136 " 7th — for ' interpretation,' read ' interposition. 

M 138 " 9th — for 'disciples,' read ' disciple.' 

" 141 " last— for ' LXXX.' read « CXXX. 4 ' 

The Note on p. 51 is not a quotation ; and the quotation on p. 83 ends at earth. 

Also error in paging, 52, — 49. 



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